WASHINGTON, Feb 01 (Reuters Health) -- The House Monday gave final
approval to legislation that would order scheduling certain drugs used in "date
rapes" as federally controlled substances.
President Clinton is expected to sign the "Hillory J. Farias and Samantha
Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act," which orders the Justice Department to act
to place the drug gamma hydroxybutyric acid, also known as GHB, on Schedule I of
the Controlled Substances Act. GHB has been implicated in more than 5,000 cases
of abuse and some 49 deaths, including those of the two teenagers for whom the
bill is named. The bill would also order the listing of GBL, a precursor
substance to GHB, as a list I chemical, and would make the drug ketamine, which
has also been implicated in cases of sexual abuse, a schedule III controlled
substance.
"These drugs are available on the Internet," said Rep. Fred Upton,
R-Mich., on the House floor. "It has to stop. This bill does that."
Said Rep. Shiela Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, "I believe by classifying this drug
now, we sent a strong message to those who would use this drug and its analogs
to commit crimes against women and others."
Final action on the bill, different versions of which passed both the
House and Senate in 1999, was complicated by the fact that while GHB has been
abused, it is also in development as a treatment for a form of narcolepsy. That
led to a dispute between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and
Drug Administration over how it should be treated. While the Justice Department
wanted to subject improper use of the substance to the most severe penalties, it
cannot justify such action where the substance has potential medical uses.
The compromise language in the final bill would subject illegal use of GHB
to Schedule I penalties, but would preserve the ability of the drug to be
developed for legitimate purposes.
The bill would also require the development of model protocols for
training law enforcement personnel in the detection of GHB abuse, as well as
taking toxicology specimens and victim statements, because GHB is processed in
the body quickly. The bill would also order the US Department of Health and
Human Services to undertake a national awareness campaign about the dangers of
GHB.
