HOW GAMMA HYDROXYBUTYRATE IS USED

The drug Gamma Hydroxybutyrate may be available as a tablet, capsule, and white powder or even as a clear liquid. It is often used along with alcohol, which makes it even more dangerous. This drug has been reported increasingly in cases of sexual assaults facilitated by drugs ("date rapes"), overdoses, poisonings and even deaths. Young adults and adolescents, often at raves and nightclubs, mainly use gamma Hydroxybutyrate.

It is also used in communities of gay males.

This drug is often abused for its properties of intoxicating, inducing euphoria or sedating. It is also abused for its effects of releasing growth hormones.

The body can convert certain chemicals like 1,4- butanediol (BD) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) into the drug Gamma Hydroxybutyrate. These ingredient chemicals can be found in many products like cleaning agents and can often be bought from retail stores or over the Internet.

The drug Gamma Hydroxybutyrate is essentially a central nervous system depressant. Its intoxicating effects start 10 to 20 minutes after it is ingested. Its effects may last up to 4 hours, depending on how much is consumed. In case of high doses, this drug’s sedative effects can cause sleep or coma or even death.

Gamma Hydroxybutyrate is given out quite quickly (around two hours) by the human body. No detection tests are available for this drug in emergency rooms. Many clinicians also may be unfamiliar with this drug. All this results in many incidents of usage of Gamma Hydroxybutyrate going undetected.