GIFT ALLEGEDLY GAVE FRIEND TWO HEART ATTACKS

Student guilty in drug case

GHB has recently become popular as a cheap high among teens and young
adults. A small dose can cause intoxication.

BEDFORD -- A Staunton River High School student pleaded guilty Thursday to
charges that he gave a classmate a capful of the drug GHB, which reportedly
caused the classmate's heart to stop twice.

Judge John Sowder accepted the 17-year-old's plea to two felony charges in
Bedford County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. He postponed the
juvenile's sentencing until a background report could be completed.

No evidence was presented during the two-minute hearing. The youth sat
silently, quickly leaving the courthouse with his parents afterward. He is
not being named because of his age.

Just before second period on a Friday morning in March, the student gave a
17-year-old friend a capful of gamma hydroxybutyrate, a drug recently
popularized as a cheap high among teens and young adults.

In addition to recreational use, it also has been reportedly used as a date
rape drug, rendering females helpless or unconscious.

Proponents of the drug argue that it's safe when the right dosage is taken.

But when the teen drank the GHB with his soft drink, he fell unconscious
and later suffered two heart attacks while an ambulance drove him to
Carilion Bedford County Memorial Hospital.

GHB -- also known by the street names Liquid Ecstasy, Scoop and Organic
Quaalude -- is basically a man-made version of a chemical in the brain that
causes sleep and relaxation.

It was used in the 1970s to treat sleep disorders. Health food stores sold
it in the 1980s in powdered form. It reportedly increases the body's
production of growth hormones and was used by bodybuilders as an
alternative to steroids.

After a series of reported health problems, the Food and Drug
Administration banned it in 1991.

In the past couple of years, GHB has gained popularity in nightclubs and at
parties.

Between August 1995 and September 1996, poison control centers in New York
and Texas reported 69 poisonings and one death from GHB use, according to
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski