Newsletter 5-07

Tonight!!!  (5/17/07)

May 17 Watch Court TV’s North Mission Road

On May 17, 1030 p.m., Court TV’s show “North Mission Road” (about the LA Coroner’s Office) will feature the death of Lucas Bielat, a 15-year-old who died in the California desert from a GHB overdose.  Lucas’ death disproves two of the most common myths about GHB abuse. 

Myth 1—You can’t died from GHB alone; you can only die if taken with alcohol or other drugs.  Lucas took only GHB, and he is dead.  In fact, one third of the 226 GHB death cases reviewed by Dr. Deborah Zvosec involved GHB only.  No alcohol.  No other drugs.  

Myth 2—Just let them “sleep it off.”  Don’t call 911; just leave your overdosed friend to sleep it off.   Bad, bad advice.  Most people do sleep it off but the rest are D-E-A-D.  And, no one can predict who will snap out of the comatose state and who simply will not come back.  Many of the cases Dr. Zvosec reviewed involved overdoses where friends had no idea why their friend was so wildly “drunk” and simply left them, assuming alcohol.  And many of them involved cases where they KNEW the person had OD’d on GHB and left them to sleep it off, even after witnessing severe adverse effects such as vomiting, barely breathing, loss of bladder control, seizures, etc.

The show was set for May 10 but has been rescheduled to May 17 and hopefully will not change from that date.  It will also re-air once or twice during the week after that first showing. 

GHB ADDICTION BOOK AVAILABLE IN JUST A FEW WEEKS!!!!

Project GHB’s book on GHB addiction will be in print in just a couple of weeks.  “G’d Up 24/7: GHB Addiction Guide,” will be for sale for approximately $35, published by Law Tech Publishing.  

This book is designed for multiple purposes.  It is a must-read for medical, correction and law enforcement personnel who may come into contact with GHB addicts in terms of treatment or confinement in order to provide proper medical care and save their lives.  It also includes chapters specifically for family/friends of GHB addicts and for addicts themselves.  This is a comprehensive book and the only thing of its kind on the market. 

We hope that addicts and families who have gotten through the maze of GHB addiction will consider buying/donating copies to treatment centers, counselors, jails, etc., who had no clue and were unable to help them during their journey or who did help them but had limited knowledge of the drug GHB!!!  This is our chance to make this information more readily available.  Based on our GHB Addiction Message Board and incoming requests for help from our GHB Addiction Help Request Form, there are still plenty of GHB addicts out there! 

I’ve also become editor for Law Tech’s “Drug ID & Symptoms Guide” and the newly reformatted and updated version will be out around the end of May 2007.  It’s at the printer right now.    It covers a bigger variety of drugs, with photos, and is a great reference book for police officers, school administrators, medical offices, probation/parole officers, counselors, etc.   It’s about $22 plus shipping.

If you are interested in either book, let me know by emailing Equus555@att.net.  The first run for the addiction book will be relatively small, so advance notice that you want a copy will be helpful.  Some have already let me know of their interest in obtaining a copy.  Special rates for large orders on both books.

Both books will be available through me directly or through Law Tech Publishing.  If you order through Law Tech, PLEASE go!!! to www.projectghb.org first and click on the link to Law Tech at the bottom of the page 

OUR DALLAS CONFERENCE HAD FABULOUS SPEAKERS!

While attendance at Project GHB’s conference in Dallas was disappointing, the quality of presentations was superb.  Once again we brought a wide array of professions together to focus on the latest information about GHB plus many other drugs, including MDMA (Ecstasy), DNP, absinthe, DXM, methamphetamine, etc. 

Our thanks to our presenters, attendees, sponsors, vendors, raffle prize sources and helpers!  We’ll be posting more about the conference in the next newsletter and on the website soon. 

INDIA ACKNOWLEDGES DRUG RAPE ISSUE

So many in the US continue to disbelieve that drug-facilitated sexual assault is “a problem.”  Well, at least until it happens to them or a friend or family member personally.  It DOES happen.  The fact that we aren’t efficient at catching these cases doesn’t make it less real to those who experience it.  Delays in reporting, difficulty in testing for some drugs (due to time factors, specific testing issues, failure to request testing for the actual drug used, the wide variety of drugs that work, etc.) and sheer disbelief by medical or law enforcement personnel (due to lack of training, personal prejudice or whatever) contribute to lack of real statistics and facts in so many cases.

This article is about drug rape in India:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=4ec76938-2673-4c91-8c12-401046607a85#

I don’t think roofies and ketamine are the big problems in this regard, at least not in the US.  GHB is indeed a significant problem, along with numerous benzodiazepine drugs (of which flunitrazepam, roofies, aka Rohypnol, is just one), plus drugs like Ambien or any other sleeping pill, diphenhydramine (Benadryl key ingredient), etc.  More than 40 different drugs have been documented in drug rape cases.  Even hallucinogenic drugs, such as MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD and so on, are rape drugs.  These drugs impair one’s ability to give or withhold consent which is the issue in a drug rape.

“Date Rape Drug” isn’t an accurate term for these drugs, though the media persists in using it.  These drugs are more appropriately called “rape drugs” or “predatory drugs” as they may be used by strangers or “dates,” may be used against men or women and for rape or robbery.

ST. LOUIS CARDS DROP ALCOHOL IN THE CLUBHOUSE

The St. Louis Cardinals play in “Busch Stadium,” and the facility is adorned with Budweiser ads, but you'll no longer find alcoholic beverages (including Bud) in the team clubhouse.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported May 6 that the Cardinals banned alcohol from the clubhouse and on team flights days after pitcher Josh Hancock died in an alcohol-related car crash. Hancock's blood-alcohol limit was more than twice the legal limit when he smashed into a parked tow truck on I-64.