Drug Facts
The Facts on GHB
Get the Facts
GHB can affect your brain and body. GHB (gammahydroxybutyrate, or gammahydroxy-butyric acid) is often used at all-night dance parties ("raves"), nightclubs, and concerts. Club drugs, like GHB, can damage the neurons in your brain, impairing your senses, memory, judgment, and coordination. People who use GHB people may experience nausea, drowsiness, dizziness, and breathing problems. Also, different amounts have different effects on people. In other words, no amount is safe.
Coma and seizures can occur following use of GHB and when combined with methamphetamine, there appears to be an increased risk of seizure. Combining use with other drugs such as alcohol can result in nausea and difficulty breathing. GHB may also produce withdrawal effects including insomnia, anxiety, tremors, and sweating.
What does GHB look like?
Sometimes it's a colorless, odorless, and slightly salty tasting liquid. (People often mix it into juices.) Sometimes it's a powder or a capsule.
GHB affects your self-control. GHB is used in "date rape" and other assaults because it is a sedative that can make you unconscious and immobilize you.
GHB is not always what it seems. Because club drugs, like GHB, are illegal and often produced in makeshift laboratories, it is impossible to know exactly what chemicals were used to produce them and where they came from. How strong or dangerous any illegal drug is varies each time.
GHB can kill you. Higher doses of club drugs, such as GHB, can cause severe breathing problems, coma, or even death.
Before You Risk It
Know the law. It is illegal to buy or sell club drugs, like GHB. It is also a federal crime to use any controlled substance to aid in a sexual assault.
Get the facts. Despite what you may have heard, club drugs, like GHB, can be addictive.
Know the risks. Mixing club drugs, like GHB, together or with alcohol is extremely dangerous. The effects of one drug can magnify the effects and risks of another. In fact, mixing substances can be lethal.
Know the Signs
How can you tell if a friend is using club drugs, like GHB? Sometimes it's tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend has one or more of the following warning signs, he or she may be using club drugs:
- Problems remembering things they recently said or did
- Depression
- Loss of coordination, dizziness, fainting
- Confusion
- Sleep problems
What can you do to help someone who is using club drugs, like GHB? Be a real friend. Save a life. Encourage your friend to stop or seek professional help. For information and referrals, call the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 800-729-6686.
Q&A
Q. If you were in a club and somebody slipped a club drug into your drink, wouldn't you realize it immediately?
A. Probably not. Most club drugs, like GHB, are odorless and tasteless. Some are made into a powder form that makes it easier to slip into a drink and dissolve without a person's knowledge. That is why some of these drugs have been called "date rape" drugs—because there have been increasing reports of club drugs being used in sexual assaults.
Need More Info?
To learn more about GHB or obtain referrals to programs in your community, contact:
SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
800-729-6686
TDD 800-487-4889
linea gratis en español
877-767-8432
ncadi.samhsa.gov
The bottom line: If you know someone who uses club drugs, like GHB, urge him or her to get help. If you're using them--stop! The longer you ignore the real facts, the more chances you take with your life.
It's never too late. Talk to your parents, a doctor, a counselor, a teacher, or another adult you trust.
Do it today!