'BLUE NITRO' UNDER FIRE POLICE SAY PRODUCT DANGEROUS

City police and public health officials are condemning a popular new
dietary supplement known as Blue Nitro that has recently shown up in
San Francisco stores.

Labeling the greenish liquid a public health threat, Lt. Kitt
Crenshaw, a narcotics officer, said that shop owners selling the
potion will be asked to voluntarily pull it from their shelves, even
though state and federal drug officials have not declared the product
illegal.

Crenshaw said the move by San Francisco police and Department of
Public Health officials comes after research showed that one of the
active ingredients in the product gamma butyrolactone, or GBL, is so
similar to a substance that is illegal in California that it is
considered a precursor, and therefore just as illegal.

Although it is selling briskly in the San Francisco area, calls to
several health food, pharmacy and smoke shops in Phoenix found little
knowledge of the substance.

Once ingested, the body converts the GBL in Blue Nitro into gamma
hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a powerful depressant and anesthetic drug
that gained widespread attention as a "date rape" drug because of its
powerful effects. The state's Controlled Substances Act classifies
GHB an illegal substance.

Using GBL in Blue Nitro is nothing more than a "neat way to get around
the law," said Joanne Whitney, director of the drug product services
laboratory at the University of California at San Francisco.

When combined with even small doses of alcohol or other drugs, the
results can include loss of consciousness, suffocation or death,
health officials said.

In the past six months, there have been at least 15 GBL-related
deaths, eight attributed to Blue Nitro, according to Jo Ellen Dyer,
pharmacist specialist at the San Francisco division of the California
Poison Control System.

GBL is legally sold in its pure liquid form as a product to strip wax
from linoleum flooring, but in Crenshaw's view, selling a product that
contains GBL with the intent to produce the effects of GHB is not
legal. However, state and federal drug officials must classify the
drug as a controlled substance before police can take action, he said.

District Attorney Terence Hallinan said that even though city
officials may not have the kind of clout that federal and state drug
officials have, it's time to take a closer look at the problem.

"We have to make a determination of what the dangers are and what
(enforcement) alternatives are available to us," he said.'

Barry Hartman, co-owner of Alpha Earth Inc., which manufactures Blue
Nitro, said that his Florida-based company has already been
investigated by DEA and FDA officials in three states since the
product was launched in July, and so far "they have had no problem
with it."

"We don't want people to get hurt, either," he said. "And we're not
doing anything wrong here. When it's used according to the directions,
it is safe. Just because a few people get sick or die, it shouldn't
ruin it for everyone else."

DEA spokeswoman Evelyn James said Blue Nitro is "obviously an area of
concern," after so many problems with it have surfaced, but so far no
formal investigation has been opened into its ingredients.