Monday, March 24, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.
The infamous "date rape" drug GHB is becoming increasingly popular among the college-age crowd as a party drug, say police who are ramping up efforts to stop the use of the illegal drug.
GHB alarms drug enforcement officials because it is fairly easy to obtain in Las Vegas' club scene, officials say. The drug is hard to detect, is addictive and has led to overdose and death when mixed with alcohol, authorities warn.
"Five years ago we didn't have any cases like this," said Jose Martinez, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Los Angeles Field office. "(GHB) absolutely has the potential to get out of hand. That's why we're doubling our efforts."
Drug enforcement officials sounded the alarm on GHB during a meeting last week at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The two-day seminar was part of a push to educate police and health care workers about "club drugs," designer drugs that have proliferated since the 1990s' dance and rave scenes.
GHB gained infamy as a so-called "date rape" drug because police said many rape suspects slipped their victims the drug in an alcoholic drink, creating a mixture that left the victim incapacitated.
But now GHB is gaining favor among people who attend the club scene, including those college-aged whom sip teaspoon-sized amounts of the clear, odorless drug to induce an intense high, police say.
Users often hide the drug in water bottles, said drug enforcement agents, who believe that the city's thriving nightclub scene makes Las Vegas a hotbed of GHB use.
DEA officials learned that Las Vegas was a big destination point for club drugs after seizing 1.3 million milliliters of GHB in Orange County, Calif., in 2000, most of which was headed for Las Vegas. That amount is equivalent to 343 gallons or 264,000 teaspoons, the average dose amount.
Add to that the fact that local emergency room doctors treated 100 patients for GHB overdoses last year, which officials say is only about 15 percent of the actual number of overdoses each year.
"Unfortunately, GHB has become a significant factor here in Las Vegas," said Todd Raybuck, a Metro Police narcotics detective. "(The 100 overdoses) probably doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the amount of GHB overdoses we get in the valley."
Raybuck said that 75 percent of people who overdose on GHB do not seek help, according to a recent University of California, Los Angeles study.
"Out of all the areas that I cover, Las Vegas worries me the most," said Michele Leonhart, Los Angeles field division special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "(GHB) is in the regular nightclubs." Known on the streets as "liquid Ecstasy," GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) was once favored by body builders, then became commonly used as a date rape drug, and is now one of about five major club drugs prevalent in Las Vegas, officials said at the forum.
One small cap full of liquid GHB, which is made from materials found in floor cleaning products and lye, can create anything from drowsiness and blurred vision to respiratory problems in users.
"GHB users are prone to the 'rocker's death,' " said Kevin Slaughter, an emergency room doctor at Desert Springs Hospital. "They pass out, tend to vomit and aspirate," inhaling the vomit into their own lungs.
Slaughter said he sometimes treats up to two GHB overdoses a day. Many are dropped off by a taxi or limo sent by a club owner or manager. Emergency room staff members call that kind of delivery a "honk and holler."
Club drugs contributed to the deaths of eight people in 2000 in Las Vegas, the most noted of which was Danielle Heird, who died July 2000 after taking two pills of Ecstasy, officials said. There have been no documented deaths directly caused by GHB overdoses in Las Vegas, according to the Clark County coroner.
But drug enforcement officials are not focused solely on GHB. They also are talking about the effects of methamphetamine, ketamine (known as "Special K"), Rohypnol (or "roofies") and Ecstasy -- all commonly found in Las Vegas nightclubs.
"Special K" is not unheard-of on the UNLV campus. One student said a friend recently told him about an experience with the drug.
"One guy was just telling me about how he took some," said John Fowler, a 19-year-old computer science major at UNLV. "He said everything was normal except for your body. You can talk fine. You just can't walk straight."
Some users might not know that ketamine is an animal tranquilizer that can cause amnesia or cognitive difficulties in high doses, health officials said.
Ecstasy remains the most prevalent drug by far in the Las Vegas club scene, authorities said.
The colored pills often come in the shape of four-leaf clovers or happy faces. The drug initially causes euphoria but can ultimately cause permanent mood disorders, seizures or death, officials warn.
Nationally, the use of Ecstasy increased from 600,000 users in 1990 to 1.5 million users in 2000, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
Ecstasy use is not officially tracked locally, but one former user said the drug became harder to get in Las Vegas because recent DEA drug busts cut into the supply.
"I was at a club just last night and only one guy had Ecstasy pills in his pocket when there used to be 10," said Mark Saint, a 22-year-old UNLV student who said he has been drug-free for 18 months.
Saint said when he was working at a well-known hotel, it was not uncommon to be tipped with "caps of G" or Ecstasy pills.
He still believes the best message to give potential users is one of moderation, but admitted when he spoke at last week's seminar that Ecstasy caused his life to spiral out of control.
Lynn Smith, the subject of an MTV documentary about Ecstasy, also appeared at last week's forum. She described how she went from being the homecoming queen at her high school in a rural Pennsylvania town to being an addict.
The nation watched as the results of Smith's brain scan showed several areas of her brain where drugs had deadened cells. She used Ecstasy for five months and although she was barely out of her teens, she had the brain of a 60-year-old, the scan revealed.
"No matter how many times I see that image of my brain, I am still shocked," Smith said.
Smith said getting "E" was as easy as ordering Domino's pizza. Her drug dealer was her best friend and her drug addiction crept up on her, she said.
"You don't know that you can end your life by swallowing a pill with a happy face on it," she said.
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