Pubdate: Mon, 06 Nov 2000
Source: Greenville News (SC)
Copyright: 2000 The Greenville News
Contact:  PO Box 1688 South Main Street, Greenville, South Carolina 29602
Website: http://greenvillenews.com/index.htm
Author: Andy Paras

DESIGNER-DRUG TREND HAS AUTHORITIES PLAYING CATCH-UP

When his first young, comatose patient was wheeled into Greenville Memorial
Hospital's emergency room about two years ago, Dr. Paul Fraley wasn't sure
what he was dealing with.

"The first time I saw GHB, I had to look it up," the Greenville Hospital
System doctor said. "Now I'm seeing it all the time."

In fact, Fraley, who's treated as many as four GHB-overdose patients in one
night, was discussing the drug with a visitor Thursday night when the latest
patient to overdose on the club drug appeared in the ER.

The 21-year-old brunette had swallowed Blue Nitro, a form of GHB, and didn't
stir as Fraley pinched her toes to try to generate a reaction. Because
there's no antidote for the drug, all the hospital's staff could do was
stick tubes from a ventilator in her nose and throat to make her breathe
until the drug left her system in four to eight hours.

"We also make sure she won't drown on her own vomit, like Jimi Hendrix did,"
Fraley said.

The increase in GHB overdoses and club drugs as a whole has put local
healthcare workers and law enforcement agencies a couple of steps behind the
growing trend and fighting to keep up. They all stress that the first step
is to get the parents informed.

"I don't know if you can ever get ahead of anything like this," said Carol
Reeves, executive director of Greenville Family Partnership. This isn't the
'60s In the two years since the first rave was seen in Greenville County,
authorities have been learning the differences between the sleeping pills
that contributed to the death of psychedelic guitarist Hendrix and the
makeshift drugs that have popped up.

Of the big three -- Ecstasy, GHB, and Ketamine -- hospital workers are
seeing GHB almost exclusively. Taking too much of the clear, odorless and
slightly salty drug, or mixing it with alcohol can slow the respiratory
system down to the point of death.

Parks Evans, Greenville County coroner, said there have been two confirmed
deaths related to GHB overdoses and that there may be as many as three more
over the past two years. Evans said his office just discovered recently that
the drug doesn't appear on its normal drug screens and that he's awaiting
the results of three other cases he suspects are related to the drug.

Greenville Hospital System officials say they have treated roughly 50
GHB-related overdoses since January. Members of the nursing staff at
Greenville Memorial say that when they arrive at the hospital in the
morning, they can tell if there's been a rave the night before because there
will be a half-dozen people hooked up to ventilators.

Ecstasy, or MDMA, is considered by many to be the safest of the drugs taken
by teens at clubs and raves when it is at its purest. Emanuel Sferios,
founder and national director of the drug-education group, DanceSafe, said
one of the biggest dangers at clubs nationwide is the possibility of taking
a drug that was made cheaper and with more dangerous chemicals than pure
Ecstasy.

PMA, or paramethoxyamphetamine, is cheaper and easier to make than Ecstasy
but often sold as Ecstasy. Sferios said the drug is responsible for many
deaths in Chicago, Florida, Australia and Europe. "It's leaving a trail of
deaths," he said.

So even if not all the dangers have arrived in Greenville at the same speed
as the drugs themselves, local authorities have been trying to contain the
spread of drugs since the first rave popped up in Greenville County about
two years ago. 'A drop in the bucket' Perhaps the biggest difference between
club drugs and the old standbys of the past is the ability to conceal them.
GHB can easily be confused with water.

Ecstasy pills, which in most cases are slightly more crude than an aspirin
but no bigger in size, can easily be stashed in pill bottles, breath mint
containers or other innocent-appearing locations.

"Our patrol guys may come across 10 or so little pills and may not have any
idea what they are," said Sgt. Jim Burriss of the Greenville County
Sheriff's Office vice and narcotics unit.

Burriss, one of many area law enforcement officers who have witnessed the
rave and drug scene first hand in county venues, said he's had teens come up
to him when he's not in uniform and ask for drugs or offer them to him.

The Sheriff's Office has, at times, made 25 to 30 cases in one night. "But
that's a drop in the bucket compared to what's really going on," he said.

Even if they don't find the drugs, officers are frequently finding people
who are on them.

Simpsonville Police Officer M.E. Fischer said that on the same night there
was a rave in the suburb, he and other officers found a 14-year-old girl
passed out in the back seat of a car as her friends ate inside a Waffle
House. The girl had had sex that night and was not sure who with, he said.
"Whether it was knowingly or unknowingly we still don't know," Fischer said.

Reeves said she feels sorry for law enforcement officers who have to stand
by and watch kids risk their lives for a high. "All officers can do is call
EMS," she said. "They're a cleanup crew in this day and age of chemical
toys."

Communities in Illinois and Florida are passing laws to either discourage or
ban raves, but Sferios said that's a mistake. His organization, which
encourages the safe use of drugs while not condoning or condemning their
use, believes that people should recognize some people are going to use
drugs despite warnings and that outlawing raves and drugs only makes it more
dangerous.

For instance, DanceSafe helped spur legislation in San Francisco that
required rave organizers to provide free water to ravers because those
"rolling" on Ecstasy need to keep drinking water to prevent themselves from
dehydrating or suffering from heat stroke.

The organization also offers to test samples of pills for users so they can
be assured what they're taking is Ecstasy.

Reeves disagrees with this logic, calling it a lowering of expectations for
children. "I can't think of a more conflicting message," she said.

Reeves also promotes honest discussion with children about drugs and said a
parent's first step should be to educate themselves about it.

If a parent suspects their child is using, they should confront him or her
but not be accusatory, she said. "You shouldn't prevent that they would tell
you the truth about where they're going," she said. "You should talk to them
about how dangerous this is, the facts about depression and the dangers of
following the crowd."
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