NEW DRUGS OUTPACE ABILITY TO FIGHT THEM

HAILEY -- New drugs are outstripping the ability to pass laws to regulate
them and the ability train officers, prosecutors and judges to deal with
them, a former Los Angles police officer said Thursday.

"GHB" -- or gamma hydroxy butyrate -- for instance, is not included in drug
testing. Even some police officers have fallen prey to the insidious
effects of GHB, which is often hawked as a health supplement and anti-aging
supplement.

"When we got started, there were 3,000 Web sites on GHB and every one said
it was totally safe for you," Trinka Porrata said.

Porrata continued her anti-"Ecstasy," GHB and "Special K" crusade across
southern Idaho Thursday, railing against the popular date rape drugs to
parents and law enforcement officers in Hailey.

"I hate the term 'date rape drug,'" Porrata said. "These drugs have nothing
to do with date. They have to do with acquaintance rape. It's not
consensual sex. It's rape."

Some officers have denied a woman's claim that she was raped despite
evidence to the contrary after arresting her for driving under the
influence of GHB. They say that she's trying to evade the charge.

Porrata said she's always been afraid that some man will shoot his wife for
fooling around after being told by police that his wife is lying about
being raped.

Her worst fears were realized recently when a man committed suicide after
police concluded that his wife had lied about being raped.

Give the woman a rape test, she urged officers sitting among the social
workers, teachers and others in the audience. If she's lying, the test will
show that. If she's been raped, the test will show that, too.

Porrata said no one is immune from rave drugs. Miss Teen Utah 2001 almost
died from heart failure after the Red Bull she was drinking was spiked with
GHB.

And that's the scariest thing about these drugs, said Len Harlig, co-
chairman of the Criminal Justice Council, which helped sponsored Porrata's
visit to the Wood River Valley.

"Before the young woman knows what's happening, she's out cold and next
thing she knows, she's pregnant or she has VD or she's dying from AIDS,"
said Harlig, who likened such use of drugs to the "worst type of domestic
terrorism."

Harlig said the problem doesn't appear to be a big one in the valley yet
but added that's it's only a matter of time.

"Even though we may think we're living in Disneyland, we still have some of
the problems that big cities do and that includes predators who give drugs
to unsuspecting females," he said.

Telling kids about the dangers of drugs is the best defense, Porrata said.
But to do that, educators and parents need to be informed. That means being
aware that the drugs, which can be packaged as liquid, powder, pills or
capsules, can be hidden in tiny bottles of breath mint spray, tiny pockets
just big enough for a couple of pills and can even be in hidden
compartments in hats and shoes.

It means recognizing that kids using the drugs may chew excessively on
pacifiers because of their constant compulsion to grind their teeth. It
means recognizing that kids using such drugs can and do drive off cliffs
because their perception is off.

"You may not have a huge problem here but now's the time to make a
difference," Porrata said. "Kids do want to hear a message and telling them
the risk does scare them."