Club Drugs: Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB)

What Is GHB?

Gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is often used as a club drug for its euphoric, hallucinogenic, and sedative effects.

GHB, which is an anabolic steroid, acts as a powerful central nervous system depressant. In the 1980s, GHB was sold in health food stores and used by many bodybuilders and athletes to lose fat and build muscle. GHB has been given nicknames such as Grievous Bodily Harm, G, Liquid Ecstasy, and Georgia Home Boy.

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of GHB except under the supervision of a physician. This was in response to reports of severe side effects, including those similar to the effects experienced after taking ]]>Rohypnol]]> (the "date rape" drug). GHB has also been associated with sexual assaults.

Despite the ban on use, GHB is illegally created and used as a club drug. GHB is made as a light-colored powder that easily dissolves in liquids or as a pure liquid. In liquid form, it is clear, odorless, tasteless, and almost undetectable when mixed in a drink.

What Are the Effects of GHB?

The average dose of GHB (1 to 5 grams) takes effect in 15 to 30 minutes, and its effects last from 3 to 6 hours.

At doses up to 2 grams, GHB can cause:

• Relaxation
• Loss of muscle tone
• Reduced inhibitions
• Slowed heart rate and breathing rate
• Impaired motor coordination and balance
• Interference with blood circulation

At doses of 2 grams and higher, GHB can cause extreme difficulty with motor and speech control. It can also bring on a very deep coma-like sleep, which requires intubation to wake the user.

When mixed with alcohol, the depressant effects of GHB are enhanced. This can lead to severely decreased breathing rate, unconsciousness, coma, and overdose.

Other side effects include:

• Sweating
• Headache
• Decreased heart rate and blood pressure
• Nausea and vomiting
• Difficulty breathing
• Loss of reflexes
• Tremors
• Delusions
• ]]>Depression]]>
• ]]>Vertigo]]>
• Hallucinations
• Seizures
• Loss of consciousness
• Amnesia
• ]]>Coma]]>

With excessive use of GHB, a person can become addicted, and therefore experience withdrawal symptoms when they don't have the drug. Withdrawal symptoms can occur within 1 to 6 hours of the last dose. These symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, tremors, and episodes of abnormally fast heart rates (tachycardia). These symptoms may last for many months.