POLICE SEEK CRACKDOWN ON DEADLY DRUG `BLUE NITRO'

Narcotics officers ask sellers to take illegal substance off shelves

A mint-flavored potion advertised as "a great sexual aid" is a close
relative of an illegal drug that has put scores of users in hospitals and
morgues, San Francisco narcotics officers said yesterday. They said Blue
Nitro, a feel-good drink found in sex shops and health stores, is an illegal
drug and store owners will be warned not to sell it.

Authorities say the liquid is a chemical cousin of GHB, gamma hydroxy
butyrate, a substance that has become a hip high among young club-goers.

Known as "liquid ecstasy," GHB is a colorless fluid sold and passed around
at all-night rave parties that has led to 26 reported deaths nationwide
since 1995, including six in California.

As the numbers of young adults treated for GHB poisoning in San Francisco
emergency rooms continues to grow, law enforcement and health officials say
they'll soon start cracking down on Blue Nitro and other similar products.

Police will begin telling store owners who sell Blue Nitro to remove the
product from their shelves.

Authorities said the liquid, manufactured in Florida and sold for about $70
for a 32-ounce bottle, is illegal because of its chemical link with GHB,
which was outlawed in California in 1996.

San Francisco police narcotics Lieutenant Kitt Crenshaw said he would be
working with the district attorney's office to determine a plan of action if
stores don't yank Blue Nitro voluntarily.

"It is being sold illegally throughout the state," Crenshaw said yesterday
at a gathering of police and medical officials.

Company officials could not be reached for comment. A product Web site
states that Blue Nitro is "100 percent legal" and that the drink is
manufactured professionally for human consumption.

The Web site makes numerous claims for metabolites from Blue Nitro,
including GHB, saying they can improve athletic performance, sleep and sex.
The company credits the metabolites with "enhancing erectile capacity in
men, lowering inhibitions in women, and increasing the intensity of
orgasms."

At Smoke Plus in the Castro, manager Allan Bitar said he's been moving about
18 bottles of Blue Nitro a day since stocking it four weeks ago and that he
was sold out. He said he would talk directly with police before removing the
bottles from shelves.

"The second they say it's illegal, right away we'll stop selling it," Bitar
said. "We're not taking a chance."

A Taste of Leather at Market and Castro streets put in an order for a supply
of Blue Nitro after getting two or three requests a day to stock it. The
store will now cancel the order, said manager Jim Johnson.

"If it's illegal, it's illegal," Johnson said. "It's not something that we
feel that strongly about."

Clerks at both stores said they hand out flyers from the Department of
Public Health warning customers of the dangers of GHB with every bottle
purchased.

The controversy surrounding GHB started in 1990, when the first illnesses
and overdoses began appearing in San Francisco. A paint thinner, known as
gamma butyl lactone, that could be purchased at many hardware stores was
being mixed with water or alcohol and passed around at raves and dance
clubs.

Like Blue Nitro, the paint thinner when ingested metabolizes into GHB, a
central nervous system depressant that can cause coma, respiratory problems
or seizures.

GHB's popularity among the gay community, twenty-something club-goers and
body builders has not subsided. In the last six months of 1998, 151 cases of
GHB poisonings were reported in California, compared with 199 cases for all
of 1997.

Eight of those treated in 1998 said they had taken Blue Nitro, officials
said.

"I'm concerned," said Jo Dyer, a specialist with the San Francisco division
of the California Poison Control System. "It is a public health threat."

The effects of the drink at high doses can be lethal, Dyer said.

"It causes a profound coma," she said. "You cannot be awakened by noise or
by pain."