NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again warning the public against the illegal sale and use of gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), after three deaths and dozens of illnesses were linked to the drug.
GHB was first developed as a surgical anesthetic, but researchers found that its side effects rendered it unusable. It then became favored as an (illegal) steroid-substitute among bodybuilders. FDA officials now warn the chemical is increasingly being taken recreationally as well, because of its intoxicating effects.
It remains contraband. "Although some promotion schemes occasionally make unlawful claims that GHB is a legal drug, it is illegal for any person to produce or sell GHB in the U.S.," FDA officials say.
The agency, with the help of law enforcement officials, began to crack down on the drug in 1990 after reports of "numerous cases" of illnesses characterized by vomiting, dizziness, tremors and seizures. "Many of those injured required hospitalization, and some deaths have been linked to the consumption of GHB products," they say.
After the FDA assault on the drug, its use subsided until the past couple of years when "there appears to be a resurgence in the abuse of GHB... (and) an increase in reports of GHB-related injuries, including deaths."
Brad Stone, an FDA spokesperson, says its use as a 'party drug' is perhaps most alarming. "Its growth among the 'rave' and party circuits is something that's generated our concern," he says. The drug, which is usually sold in $10 vials, is mixed into drinks in either its liquid or powder forms. GHB is known on the street as "cherry meth" or "liquid X," and may be connected to illnesses which struck a group of young revelers at a New Year's Eve concert in Los Angeles.
The chemical is being produced in "clandestine" labs, the FDA say, with often erratic levels of toxicity. An amount of the drug that simply provides a "high" one night might send the same person into a coma when tried again, experts warn.
Agency officials say they have conducted 45 criminal investigations of GHB abuse leading to 12 convictions over the past two years. They have also initiated public education programs and placed an "automatic detention policy" on all imports thought to contain the drug.
But the public, at large, may still be misled by rumors claiming that GHB is a safe, legal drug. Those rumors may be bolstered by the fact that the Drug Enforcement Administration has yet to list GHB as a controlled substance, placing it in the same league as narcotics and other drugs. Two states -- Georgia and Rhode Island -- have already declared the chemical a controlled substance, however, and other states may soon follow their lead.
In the meantime, the FDA reminds the public that, "despite renewed claims that it is legal, GHB continues to be an unapproved and potentially dangerous drug and cannot be legally marketed in the U.S."
