GHB - The Date-rape Drug.

GHB: Gamma hydroxy butyrate or Gamma hydroxybutyric acid, Sodium Oxybate

Effects: Intoxication, increased energy, happiness, talking, desire to socialize, feeling affectionate and playful, mild disinhibition, sensuality, enhanced sexual experience, muscle relaxation, loss of coordination due to loss of muscle tone, possible nausea, difficulty concentrating, loss of gag reflex.
Many people have bad reactions. These can include nausea, headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, amnesia, vomiting, loss of muscle control, respiratory problems, loss of consciousness, being conscious but unable to move, and death- Especially when combined with alcohol or other drugs.
Effects of large doses: Disinhibition, sedation, desire to sleep, rambling incoherent speech, giddiness, silliness, difficulty thinking, slurred speech, passing out, and death

A cautionary message here which I really never thought I’d be writing about but hey, shit happens and this is on the increase...

We all hear about it on the news, read about it in the papers and most of us know someone who’s been affected by this very foolish practice.

Drink spiking has been around for a long time but appears to be becoming more popular as guys depart from the more traditional methods of pulling women.

I personally think also that some sad sick people think it’s funny to do it and then observe the effects on the victim.

We are familiar with the term date rape but only a small number of incidences of drink spiking actually get that far thankfully.

Alarmingly, even with the widespread familiarity of this practice, security staff in bar, clubs and pubs still don’t appear to be taking this problem seriously. As the victims frequently appear drunk security staff treat them as such and eject them from the premises. Most people I’ve spoken to about this also say that even when the situation is explained they get little or no sympathy or assistance from security staff.

The ignorance and refusal to acknowledge the ease in obtaining this substance is quite astounding seeing as it has become a popular recreational and ‘clubbing’ drug.

GHB is now categorised as a class C drug but I’m convinced after my experience of being spiked with it that it should be category A.

Unlike other drugs GHB is easy to use to spike someone’s drink especially if they’re drinking a strong tasting drink such as wine as was the case with myself.

Until this happened to me I had no idea of the feelings it would stir up or the absolute sense of personal violation and manipulation that it would cause.

My encounter with GHB started as a normal girly night out in a nearby town. We decided that one of us would be the evening’s designated driver, a decision that was later to become possibly the most important thing that prevented anything worse happening to us…

I’d never been to the particular bar we went to but was assured by my friends that it was a lovely, busy place with a good mix of customers and an excellent atmosphere. I won’t name it because some of the things I’m going to mention are a little critical but I have rung them and told them what happened to me.

The evening started nice and relaxed with the 3 of us sat at a high table on stools, 2 of us sharing wine by the bottle and the other drinking a shandy and then coke as she was driving.

Thinking about it now, it was obvious who to target with the drug if that’s how calculating the ‘spiker’ was, who knows…Another possible culprit was a guy that kept trying to chat me up, I wasn’t interested and turned him down, again, who knows…

I don’t suppose we’ll ever know if it was a ‘prank’, a grudge or a calculated attempt to find victims for sex.

Initially, the bar was fairly quiet but soon became busy and then crowded.

During the evening the 3 of us were chatting and laughing, mainly amongst ourselves. We never left our drinks alone as 1 of us always stayed at the table to keep our seats.

However, shortly after a guy was making a nuisance of himself with me, I started to feel a little drunk, disorientated and a bit more bubbly than usual. I put it down to the fact I’d not been out drinking much lately but thinking now I wouldn’t have been drunk that quickly on a few glasses of wine. One of my friends was supposed to be drinking her wine with soda but she kept forgetting to put the soda in so she did get quite drunk but that’s because she doesn’t drink much wine regularly. The other was obviously sober and drinking coke.

Things started to get a bit scary then ‘cos I was feeling rather unwell but didn’t know why. I was very disorientated by this time and feeling quite frightened because I’d never got drunk on that amount of wine before.

I’m not sure what happened all together but my friends tell me I was rather silly and looked a bit drunk and then all of a sudden I blacked out and fell off my stool. When I came round which was almost at once, I was very distressed and didn’t know where I was. I was frightened and confused but appeared drunk and un-co-operative when people tried to help me. I had difficulty speaking by this time and was very very frightened.

The rest is a blur and has been filled in by my friends but we were apparently asked to leave as we appeared drunk. The door-staff weren’t remotely concerned that I’d fallen off a stool they were just trying to get us out of the premises.

Luckily the car wasn’t far and we got home safely. Large chunks of the evening are not in my memory and the journey home is very sketchy.

I’ve been in some states but never ever have I experienced parts of the evening ‘missing’ in memory. I got in the house safely but again, I have no memory of anything after that.

I woke in the morning feeling really ill and realised that I’d vomited sometime after getting home. During the course of the day it became increasingly apparent what had actually happened, and 3 days on I still feel a bit unwell but at least I’ve been assured of no lasting damage.

The horrifying realisation of what could have happened overwhelms the relief that nothing really bad happened for a time.

As I mentioned earlier I think that far more attention needs to be paid to this ever increasing problem especially because of the serious risks involved in people indiscriminately administering this drug on unknowing victims. All staff employed in venues serving alcohol should be fully trained and be vigilant about this problem, the serious lack of concern by staff is alarming considering the consequences of mixing this drug unknowingly with alcohol.

I was very lucky on this occasion but I know that many others aren’t. GHB can be lethal when mixed with alcohol or other drugs. For Someone to knowingly administer a drug which was initially developed as a general anaesthetic for pranks or other more sinister reasons is truly frightening scenario, the outcome of which cannot be known even by the person administering the drug. The consequences faced by anyone caught doing this must be severe to serve as a deterrent to others even if it was meant as just a prank.