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Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate -
Spotlight on GHB
May 9-11, 2003
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By Trinka Porrata
A national survey recently indicated that 12 out of
each 100 young people admitted to having tried the drug Ecstasy
(which means that more than 12 have tried it---this is
self-admitted). But, only 1 out of 100 parents believe THEIR child
may have tried it. That represents a rather large reality gap for
parents.
In making high school and college presentations around the country,
I know that young people are interested in learning the truth. We
get a tremendous response from the students. The message doesn’t
have to be one based on overstating and trying to scare them. The
truth is quite scary enough. I want them to know that each person
must make himself or herself absolutely FIRST in their own life and
not rely on others to watch out for them and take care of them.
Responsibility for their conduct is the key. They must care about
themselves and have the courage to stand up to peer pressure.
A certain number of people will do drugs no matter what we tell
them. And, we have indeed told them about cocaine, meth, heroin,
alcohol, etc. Everyone knows heroin is dangerous, but some will
still test their luck. Meanwhile, we have not adequately addresses
drugs like GHB, MDMA (Ecstasy), Ketamine, Lucky 7, Foxy Methoxy,
etc. But the drug dealers have been talking to them, lying about how
safe and wonderful these drugs are.
The ones I worry most about are the good kids who know better and
really don’t want to do drugs, but fold under pressure as their
peers crowd around, tormenting them with “just try it,” “don’t be a
scaredy cat,” etc. Or the ones who say NO, and get it slipped into
their drink or who accidentally pick up a friend’s drink, assuming
it’s just soda and get dosed. The age we need to be most concerned
about seems to be 10-14 as far as getting the info about the true
risks of these drugs and getting some support for personal courage
under their wings.
I stress the personal responsibility to young athletes as well. I
want each to make a deliberate decision about drugs, steroids and
even over-the-counter supplements (many of which are bunk and some
are even dangerous). Even coaches and dads can get carried away and
urge them to have just one more injection or to try steroids to get
“the edge” or whatever. But it’s that athlete’s future a few years
down the road that may be damaged by repeated cortisone injections,
for example, or steroids, for the sake of winning just one more game
or one tournament today. We are used to ignoring the “good kids” who
are involved in healthy things like sports or band or academic
clubs, but they too need guidance and solid information. Today’s
drug abuse issues cut across all socio-economic and activity
boundaries. The drug user might be anyone’s child, not just “those
bad kids.” They are all at risk.
Meanwhile, it’s parents who don’t turn out in appropriate numbers
for drug presentations. Across the country, I’ve seen it over and
over. Great interest from the students and only a handful of parents
at night, even in schools where they have had publicity about drug
overdoses at school dances, etc.
Well, Idaho communities the first week of February proved to be
different with great turnouts of attendees at all hours for various
presentations and despite less than exciting weather conditions!!!
Hats off to Idaho communities who care! This was the kick off of a
determined community effort in the region around Twin Falls, Burley
and Sun Valley. They will be following up with a variety of
anti-drug efforts over the coming months. The Twin Falls television
station (KMVT) even aired a two-hour presentation without
interruptions. The owner said that the switchboard received over 100
phone calls praising the presentation, and he had never experienced
anything like that in the many years of business. More in the future
about their game plan.
Meanwhile, one teenager recently mentioned to me that a national
conference about youth issues (attended by several students ages
14-18 from each state) had included nothing about drugs and nothing
about teenage sex issues. She said they had even talked about STDs
without talking about sex! She said my class on club drugs would
have been the most important issue that could have been presented.
The point being, they DO want to hear the truth about drugs. We need
to get over the fear of addressing issues and learn to TALK to and
with our youth!!!
The TV show Third Watch recently featured an officer’s daughter
overdosing on Ketamine and languishing in a coma for a while. She
did it to impress that hot young man she got the chance to date,
even though she knew better. It was a good segment, but of course,
being TV, she way lying there all pretty, hair combed/curly as
usual, and natural looking--and then woke up OK. Well, it doesn’t
really look like that. A great contrast to that is the Today Show
segment on Erin Rose’s story. Erin overdosed on Ketamine with her
boyfriend (but accepts full responsibility—“I did this to myself.”).
The segment includes real footage of her on life support, and it
isn’t pretty. And Erin isn’t OK now. It’s real. And everyone who has
seen that segment found a lump in their throats afterwards, and a
few minutes of silence always follows.
Silence can be deafening. But, break the silence with real
communication with your child or those you work with in any
capacity!
NOTE: Our website now features
One
Teen To Another, a message board for teens to talk about drugs
and how to stay safe. It is monitored by certified drug counselors.
We hope teens nationwide will join in and help each other stay
healthy.
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A Web-Based GHB Study has begun - would you like
to participate?
|
A research project
is being conducted by Brown University.
This study is about
the effects of GHB/analogs among web-users.
You will be asked
to complete an anonymous survey via the web.
Thank you.
|
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Stories
Comments:
i am a former drug user...clean for 6 months and
counting...my drug of choice was "e". last week end i met a friend
at the bar for a drink and was dosed with GHB. i was in a coma and
recall nothing of what happened to me that evening. i could have
died that night if my friend wouldn't have called 911. everyone...
be careful out there. watch your drink at all times! there are sick
people out there. i am very fortunate to be here right now. now i
know why i put drugs in my past...please be smart and do the same.
Comments from Indiana:
My 14 year old foster child was rushed into the
hospital on 1/29 after she went to a house where there were several
boys and she experienced a seizure. Fortunately they had the good
sense to call an ambulance. She remembers that they gave her a cup
1/2 full of Bacardi. Her blood alcohol level was 1.5.....I did not
realize that the hospital does not check for this date rape drug and
I am wondering if this could effect her blood level being so high.
Also she now has a blood infection. She has very little recollection
of the evening. She was vomiting for days and also complained of
terrific headaches. Does this sound like this drug? Why doesn't a
hospital test for this automatically? Thank you
Response:
It is hard to say for sure without further
information, but it is a possibility that she was given some GHB
along with the rum. However, GHB would not impact the blood alcohol
level (make it higher). She had to have consumed enough alcohol to
reach that level. For an inexperienced drinker, that level would
potentially cause the symptoms described, but hard to determine
without medical records or a doctor actually examining her,
reviewing the symptoms and comparing them. Hospitals aren't able to
test for GHB because they don't have the instrumentation required
for the test. Many drugs can be easily tested for in a drug
"screen." But there is no simple drug screen for GHB. We are trying
to improve the capability of hospitals and law enforcement to test
for this drug.
Trinka Porrata
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City, State: Ga.
Date: December 23, 2002
Comments:
My nights used to be spent partying with my husband and friends.
One of the 'new' drugs we had discovered was GHB, or its
derivatives. I tried it a couple of times, and it was OK, but I
preferred stimulants, the lifestyle was wearing thin on me, so I
soon gave up all drug use. My husband did not. I became pregnant,
and hoped that that would be the thing that convinced my husband to
go straight. We had discussed what we expected from ourselves when
faced with having a family many years before, and both of us
acknowledged that there wouldn't be room in our lives as parents
for drugs any more. Unbeknownst to me, my husband's occasional
flirtation with GHB had escalated into constant use. There were
nights I would lock my door (we had long since stopped sharing a
room), afraid to come out because I could hear him pacing the
house, screaming incoherently, hitting himself. Sometimes I would
find him passed out (usually nude-sometimes outside), unwakeable,
twitching in his own vomit. We fought a great deal -- on the rare
occasions he came home. He had started hitting me sometimes, but
the worry and emotional abuse were more demoralizing than getting
my first black eye from the man who supposedly loved me.
I began to realize at this point (around the birth of our son),
that his use was greater than I had originally thought, but there
were times that nothing seemed amiss (it seems that he was
incorporating more meth and coke into the mix to get through the
day). Those were the times he would drive with us in the car. I had
no idea he was high all the time, but apparently he was willing to
risk all of our lives... Our son was such a sweet, well-behaved
baby -- just as beautiful in temperament as he was to look at. I
worried that this would soon change, as some of the things he
witnessed at home, no child should ever see.
When he was about a year old, I became very ill and almost died. I
spent some time in the hospital, and my mother took leave from her
job so she could take care of the baby while my husband went to
work. (found out later that he hadn't been going - he was out
getting high). My mother spent a morning locked in the bedroom,
witnessing one of his 'attacks'. She didn't want to worry me at the
time, so she didn't tell me until later.
Our son turned a year old, and we were starting to get concerned
because he still wasn't walking or talking, but everyone said not
to worry. Besides, all babies have their own timetables for those
sorts of things. He did start doing both eventually, but his speech
was very lacking. He is three. He has called me "Mama" once. You
see, my son is autistic. We, like most parents of autistic spectrum
children, didn't see it coming until he was over two years old.
Although the latest word is that 'they' think autism is genetic, no
one can say for certain what causes it (it is a neurological
disorder), and there is no cure. There are many schools of thought
on autism's origins, and even more on how to 'treat' it. Either
way, the future looks pretty bleak sometimes.
Now my nights are spent on the computer, researching autism,
looking for funding, researching treatments, studying all I can
about this disorder. The reason I am at this site is because I have
been trying to educate myself as to the chemical processes of
autism. From what I have read thus far, there are a lot of chemical
similarities in an autistic brain and a brain that is dosed up on
GHB (most especially the elevated serotonin/dopamine, and it
appears to me that the two conditions have an effect on the same
areas of the brain). I am fairly certain that there isn't any
research out there involving these two things, and I am no doctor,
but I would be very interested to hear a scientific point of view
on this.
I think we have only begun to scratch the surface of what the
long-term effects of GHB use are, regardless of whether its use
could be linked to my child's disability. I would like to know how
it affects the chemical makeup of both parents in reference to
their unborn offspring. At this point, it isn't about placing blame
for me - it's about finding a source, and then perhaps a way to
help these people affected by autism. When other parents are
wishing their kids would be quiet for a minute, all I want is to be
able to have a conversation with mine, to hear his voice..
Incidentally, my husband and I are separated, as he has bounced
from drug to drug, and our son deserves a better home than that of
an addict and a victim. But make no mistake about it -- GHB was the
beginning of the end. That stuff is Hell in a bottle. I have seen
it help bring about the ruin my family, and one other friend of my
husband's as well. Most important, it is not a
'get-out-of-jail-free card'!!! People who claim it's not addictive
are either lying or don't know what they are talking about, and
haven't been on their hands and knees at four in the morning
cleaning their husband's vomit out from under their baby's crib. I
watched GHB take a somewhat insecure (but then who isn't?),
basically nice guy, and turn him into a raving soulless lunatic
with no conscience, who can rationalize ANY act if it means staying
high.
For those who consider using this drug: I beg you not to try it;
some people use it and walk away, no harm done...but some don't
walk away at all. Still others survive it, but will pay for it
forever. And then there are the kids that you are probably too
young to be thinking about, that you might want to have one
day...is it worth risking all that? Believe me when I tell you -
there is NO PAIN IN THE WORLD like wondering if something you did
in a 'harmless' pursuit of fun may have caused your baby to suffer
for all his life. What you do in your twenties can (and probably
will) walk up and bite you on the ass in your thirties (or
later..). You are not the only person you are risking when you do
drugs, though. You risk the security of everyone who loves you --
even of those who aren't in your life yet! I didn't think about
that kind of thing when I was younger (and did a lot of
experimenting as a result), so I write this in the hopes that
someone might consider what happened to us as a very real
possibility of what could happen to them, and NOT DO GHB.
- Item 1
Michael's Message, Inc. (dedicated to the memory of Michael
Tiedemann who died from GHB at the age of 15) will be holding its
1st Annual "Walk Away From Drugs," 5K walk on Saturday, April 19,
2003, in Vero Beach, Florida.
The day will include an Easter Egg Hunt and Karate demonstrations.
People interested in joining can contact Debbie Alumbaugh,
772-464-7612 or email
MMF6183@aol.com - Their website is
www.michaelsmessage.org.
[top]
 DRUG
ID & SYMPTOM GUIDE
$19.99
Contains 133 color photos of illicit street drugs and drug
paraphernalia, symptoms of influence, effects, duration, methods of
ingestion, overdose symptoms and field drug testing procedures. Also
includes street slang glossary and more. Authored by Sgt. Ken
Whitley, a veteran Drug Recognition Expert.
(Includes Ecstasy and GHB and
associated paraphernalia). Lots of photos
Check it out:
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Anonymous Drug Tip Program:
https://www.dammadd.org/default.asp
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