GHB: The 'date rape' drug can be highly addictive and deadly

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Susan Middleton first learned about GHB when she found a bottle containing a clear liquid in her daughter's freezer in Kansas City, Kan.

Inexplicably, the liquid was not frozen. Middleton sniffed the contents. No odor.

"What in the world?" she thought.

GHB seemed like the least of her daughter's problems. But as it turned out, GHB was the root of her problems.

Most people fear GHB as a "date rape" drug. But this deceptively dangerous liquid has grown in popularity in recent years with partyers, athletes and others who take it deliberately, sometimes with deadly consequences.

Partyers sip it to get high. Taking a capful is akin to drinking five beers in five minutes with a little PCP on top, experts say. But drink too much and you may never wake up.

Bodybuilders and athletes use it as an alternative to steroids, thinking it makes them bigger and stronger. But it can send users into psychosis and ruin their bodies.

GHB-related overdoses have killed at least three people in the Kansas City area in recent years, including a 28-year-old Northland man in October.

Nationally, one expert identified 200 GHB-related deaths across the country from 1995 to 2005, but the real numbers could be much higher because police, hospitals and medical examiners don't routinely check for it.

People who supply GHB at rave parties, the bar scene or the gym contend it is harmless. But that's not true, said Trinka Porrata, a leading GHB expert and retired Los Angeles police detective.

"GHB addiction is the single toughest - most prolonged and most dangerous - of all drug withdrawals," said Porrata, who runs a nonprofit called Project GHB.

Even Middleton's daughter, Alina Bostic, seemed to realize that GHB, or G as it is known among users, had taken over her life.

Bostic told her mother in September 2007: "I think it was the G that really messed me up."

A few weeks later, Middleton stopped by Bostic's home with leftover lasagna and brownies. She found her daughter lying facedown in her living room.

She was dead.

Bostic moved to the Kansas City area with her mother and sister when she was about 1 year old. She danced on the drill team at Lee's Summit High School and joined the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority at Northwest Missouri State University, where she earned a public relations degree.

"Alina was such a bright and charming girl," Middleton said. "She was the kind of person you wanted to be around."

While working as a bartender, Bostic kept putting off plans to pursue a career related to her degree. She started using GHB through a friend she met at the bar. Her life soon spiraled out of control.

"It was like she turned a corner into a dark alley and never came out," Middleton said.

Bostic became withdrawn and extremely anxious and had angry outbursts. She quit working and wouldn't leave her home. She spent nearly all her time in bed trying - without success - to get some sleep. A doctor prescribed Xanax and sleeping pills.

Middleton moved her daughter into her Raymore, Mo., home to keep closer tabs on her. Whenever Bostic acted strangely, Middleton gave her a drug test. Each time, Bostic passed. But the test didn't screen for GHB.

Eventually, Bostic refused a drug test and moved back into her own house.

At the time, Middleton thought her daughter was depressed and addicted to prescription drugs. In reality, Bostic was struggling with GHB and trying to medicate her painful withdrawal symptoms with other drugs - a common tactic among addicts, experts say.

Ten days after Bostic's 30th birthday, Middleton left work early to check on her. After finding the body, she called 911.

Police crime-scene technicians left behind a tea bottle containing a clear liquid. It was GHB. Middleton called police, who returned to get it.

She had to ask the coroner to test her daughter's body for GHB, something he doesn't routinely do.

Multiple drug intoxication caused Bostic's death, Wyandotte County Coroner Alan Hancock said. She had 432 milligrams per liter of GHB in her blood - well over a toxic level, according to an international study of GHB deaths.

She also had alcohol and small amounts of other drugs, such as Xanax, in her system.

Lack of education is the biggest reason GHB keeps hurting and killing people, experts say.

"These folks are outside the realm of recognition and help right now," Porrata said. "Their numbers will grow."

Project GHB's Web site - started by parents who lost a son to GHB - features the stories of 19 men and women who died from GHB-related causes. Many suffering overdoses were left to "sleep it off." Heartsick parents lament that friends periodically "checked" on their loved ones, but no one called for help.

"I lost my child," one parent wrote, "a part of my heart and a part of my reason to live, to GHB, the insidious monster."

Middleton understands the pain all too well. She raised two beautiful, successful and independent daughters. She got them through college and thought they were safe.

But now her younger daughter, who once loved frogs, angels and butterflies, is gone. And Middleton blames GHB.

"If this could happen to Alina, it could happen to anyone."