Caution! Addictions to party drug GHB are on the rise

GHB is a very popular party drug; easy to get or to make at home, it is freely and cheaply available on the internet but if GHB was deemed harmless ten years ago, health workers are seeing more and more addicts with serious withdrawal symptoms.

Gammabutyrolactone (street name: GBL) is used to remove graffiti, grease, rust and glue.

It can also come in handy to clean car rims, the website www.bestel-gbl.nl (order GBL) informs visitors. The contact number is a mobile phone, and the delivery service is available 24/7.

But who has ever had a car rim emergency in the middle of the night? The vendor isn't the least bit surprised when a reporter calls from Amsterdam and says she is willing to travel to Uden, a 120 kilometres south, for a quarter liter of cleaning product. "Like alcohol but without the hangover"

The agreed meeting takes place at a windy industrial lot where army fighter planes constantly break the sound barrier overhead. After 30 minutes a girl drives up in a green Peugeot. She has a plastic bottle with her. That will be 25 euros. Cash. Why is she selling a cleaning product in a secluded spot? There has been trouble, she says, with the father of a boy who took to drinking the stuff undiluted. It's better to brew up GHB with it, is her advice.

The recipe is simple enough. You will need some car rim cleaner, demineralised water and oven cleaner. Mix them up in the proper quantities and there you are: liquid GHB.

'Dramatic' rise in the number addicts
GHB is short for gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a naturally-occurring substance found in the central nervous system. In the sixties it was used as a narcotic until that practice was discontinued because of side-effects. More recently it has become a fixture in certain party scenes. In Amsterdam the emergency services are called for GHB cases more than for any other illegal drug. The number of GHB interventions has almost doubled from 69 in 2001 to 128 in 2008.

The short term risks of GHB are nausea, memory loss or even a coma in case of an overdose. People have been known to suffocate from their own tongue or vomit. Serious breathing problems can occur. Twitching in the limbs or the face has been reported. If it is mixed improperly it can burn the mouth, the oesophagus and the stomach.

The long-term effect can be addiction. In 1999 the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said there was little to no chance of getting addicted either physically or mentally to GHB. But ten years later Trimbos, the National Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, is sounding the alarm.

Cheaper than alcohol
Health care workers are reporting a 'dramatic' rise in the number of GHB addicts, with serious withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, tremors, motor symptoms, insomnia, aggressiveness, and psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, paranoid delusions and delirium.

Dick, a 27-year-old GHB user from Amersfoort who spoke on the condition of anonymity has experienced the withdrawal symptoms firsthand. "I felt awful, so awful that I felt like I was going to faint at any moment. Sweating, palpitations. I would think: I'm not going to make it today."

But Dick also remembers the positive effects. "It did make me feel pretty good. A kind of peace comes over you. You see only the bright side of life. You're much more social."

Many users speak of a euphoric, relaxed feeling. Fears and inhibitions disappear. People get talkative and often sexually aroused. That makes the GHB rush similar to an alcohol rush, but without the hangover the next day. It is also cheaper than alcohol.

For sale on eBay
Unlike other illegal drugs it is also very easy to get. Party web sites give out the email addresses and mobile phone numbers of GHB dealers. You can even get it on marktplaats.nl, the Dutch version of eBay.

It is even easier to make it yourself. There are plenty of recipes on the internet, and all the ingredients can be bought over the counter. Demineralised water is available at most petrol stations. Sodium hydroxide can be bought in the form of cleaning products at any drugstore, and Gammabutyrolactone (GBL) or can be ordered online. But the GHB end product itself has been illegal in the Netherlands since 2002.

People who don't want to go to the trouble of making GHB can also drink the car rim cleaner GBL in pure form: GBL is then transformed into GHB inside the body. Or they can buy a 5-millilitre container on the market for 5 euros. A normal shot of GHB is 1 to 2 millilitres and is enough for a two-hour rush.

Lieuwe (36) from Weesp likes to take 5 to 7 millilitres at a time. He has been using GHB for five years on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. He likes to mix his homemade GHB in a glass with lemonade concentrate. "Pomegranate is the best."

He drinks the mixture with small snips, sitting on the couch in his living room. "Other people like to have a glass of wine. Me, I have a drink of GHB."