CORONER CONDEMNS FATAL FANTASY DRUG

An overdose victim was found to have lethal levels of the party drug
Fantasy in his blood and urine, Wellington coroner Garry Evans has heard.

The death of Grant Ferretti, 35, ACC beneficiary, last year was one of the
first fatal Fantasy overdoses in the Wellington region.

Mr Evans said at the conclusion of an inquest yesterday that he would
deliver a written decision on the case but told Mr Ferretti's parents that
his provisional finding would be one of respiratory arrest due to overdose.

Young people were seduced into experimenting with this most baleful drug,
Mr Evans said. "The community is faced with a toxin infecting our young
people." Fantasy -- also known as ghb for its chemical name
gammahydroxybutyrate -- was found in autopsy samples from Mr Ferretti after
he died in Hutt Hospital on November 12. Also found were traces of Ecstasy
and cocaine which were likely to have been taken in the two days before his
death.

Police had received information that Mr Ferretti may have taken up to 30
millilitres of the drug which is usually taken in a drink to disguise its
bitter taste. His girlfriend Rachael Beeby had also admitted taking the
drug that night. Others at the party at Ferretti's house in Naenae had
watched him but did not call an ambulance for fear of ramifications.

Fantasy produces a euphoria similar to alcohol but its side effects include
severe respiratory depression, coma and death.

Constable Tamara van Hengel said Fantasy took 10 to 20 minutes to kick in,
leading an inexperienced user to be tempted into using more.

Mr Ferretti had been at home with several friends on November 10 last year.
A woman in the house got up about 5am the next day and passed Mr Ferretti
on a bed. He was blue and not breathing.

Despite ambulance attempts to bring him round, Mr Ferretti never recovered
respiratory function. He was taken to hospital where he was put on life
support. It was turned off on November 12 and his heart and kidneys used in
transplants.

Some of the people at Mr Ferretti's home that night said he had previously
supplied them with drugs, including Rinse, a form of Fantasy.

A police search of Mr Ferretti's home found a bottle with traces of ghb,
2040 cannabis seeds, the remains of a hydroponic cannabis growing lab,
anabolic steroids and more ghb in liquid form. He had also been known to
use cannabis and amphetamines.

Detective Sergeant Glen Turner from Lower Hutt said it was apparent Mr
Ferretti was a drug user and probably selling cannabis as well as supplying
others on a social level.

He said there was no indication that anyone had administered Fantasy to Mr
Ferretti.