RETIRED OFFICER SHOWS HOW DRUGS DISGUISED

She dangled a deadly candy necklace from her finger Wednesday, seizing the
attention of parents and professionals who were unaware that one of the
multicolored candies could be a pill of ecstasy.

The retired Los Angeles Police Department officer hovered over a table
piled with mouthwash, nail polish and colorful beaded bracelets used to
conceal drugs at school, rave parties and drug-treatment centers.

Trinka Porrata translated drug vernacular for a crowd of about 500 people
at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center attending the daylong seminar, Trendy
Drugs of Abuse. She focused on the date-rape drug GHB, or gammahydroxy
butyrate, and on LSD, rohypnol and ketamine, also known as special K.

She emphasized that Ventura County is no exception to the trendy drug
problem and rave scene and that California is second only to Florida in the
number of deaths caused by the tasteless date-rape drug.

"Do you have GHB in Ventura County? You bet you do," Porrata said to an
audience filled with law enforcement officials and county social workers.
"You have Andrew Luster. You have the death of CLU student Kyle Hagmann."

Hagmann, a popular California Lutheran University junior, died in April
1999 after drinking a mixture of GHB and alcohol.

Porrata, a former narcotics officer who operates the Project GHB Web site
and is an expert on drug use, warned audience members about identifying
trendy drugs that can subtly seep into classrooms, playgrounds and homes.

High school students sucking on pacifiers in class are likely combating the
urge to grind their teeth caused by the ecstasy, which creates a euphoric
five-hour trip and dilated pupils.

Porrata showed a slide of a student on a playground in Long Beach wearing a
long-sleeve, white T-shirt and white gloves on a hot day. The word
"ecstasy" was printed across his shirt.

"Every feeling is heightened," Porrata explained about the boy wearing
gloves. "Anything with texture, like the inside of Mickey Mouse gloves."

She flipped to another slide of a teenage girl at Disneyland sucking on a
pacifier.

Other pictures were of rave parties where 70 percent to 90 percent of
partygoers were on drugs.

She warned of other telltale signs: Candy necklaces and bracelets often are
laced with LSD; some students will bring Pez containers to class because
teachers don't suspect they're laced with LSD.

Porrata told parents to be suspicious when kids ask to attend parties where
no alcohol is served but which last into the early morning hours.

"Don't worry dad; it's a teen dance party. No alcohol," Porrata said,
mimicking a teenager. "Don't fall for that. It's all drug talk. There's a
lot of coding."

Butterflies are a universal code word for the hallucinogenic ecstasy, and
incessant chatter is one of the side effects, Porrata said.

"If they're on X, they cannot shut up. They cannot not talk to you.
Everything is wonderful on ecstasy," she said.

She spoke about parents paying attention to the color of mouthwash, making
sure it fits with the product. If it's clear, instead of green or yellow,
as it normally is, it's probably GHB, Porrata said.

Ruth Ransom, who licenses foster-care homes for Ventura County, was shocked
to learn about the subtleties of concealing drugs.

"I've seen people with those mittens on. I kind of thought it was weird,"
Ransom said, looking at the table filled with everyday articles such as a
spice container, nail-polish remover and a decongestant. "This is really,
really frightening to me. This is a whole new Pandora's box. I'm really
taken aback."

When Irene Cortez walked over to view the items on the table in front of
Porrata, she voiced similar concerns.

"A lot of this stuff looks familiar," said Cortez, who works at the Oxnard
College Job and Career Center. "Oh my goodness. That's scary. Ecstasy I've
heard about, but not the GHB. That's why I'm here. I want to learn."