Pubdate: Thu, 21 Oct 1999
Source: Alameda Times-Star (CA)
Copyright: 1999 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Contact:  66 Jack London Sq. Oakland, CA 94607
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/times/
Author: Jeff Chorney, Staff Writer

DRUG LINKED TO TEEN-AGER'S DEATH

'Liquid Ecstasy' Found In 13-Year-Old Hayward Boy's Liver

HAYWARD - James Fa'asisila, whose death this summer put a spotlight on
missing children and rallied neighbors to fight crime, probably wasn't
murdered but might have died from taking a dangerous drug popular with
partying teens.

A small amount of gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, was found in the
13-year-old's liver, investigators said Wednesday.

The discovery of this elusive drug has changed the nature of the
investigation. Besides looking into how the boy got the drug, police are
trying to find anyone who was with Fa'asisila before he died, said Hayward
Lt. Rick Parker.

Fa'asisila's body was discovered in some bushes near railroad tracks along
Huntwood Avenue on Aug. 12, two days after his family reported him missing.
The Alameda County Coroner's Office could not determine a cause of death.
There was no sign of strangling, beating or sexual assault.

Investigators are reluctant to discuss the presence of GHB because they
still don't know if the small amount found was enough to kill Fa'asisila.
They also don't know if he ingested it willingly or if it was slipped into
something he drank.

And medical examiners did not find toxic levels of alcohol, cocaine,
methamphetamine or other drugs in Fa'asisila's system, said Lt. Pat Adams,
head of the coroner's office.

Adams wouldn't comment on the GHB theory but said additional toxicology
tests had turned up a substance that transformed the case into a "forensic
mystery." His investigators are trying to determine if the amount of the
chemical would have been fatal to Fa'asisila.

The boy's family also was hesitant to discuss the finding.

"I'm still puzzled, until I get the final answer on it," said James' mother,
Pauline Fa'asisila. "If that's what it was, where did he get it? How
vulnerable are these kids?"

She had never heard of GHB before police brought up its possible link to her
son's death, she said.

Trinka Porrata, a retired Los Angeles police narcotics officer and an expert
on designer drugs, called GHB "the most dangerous drug I've encountered in
my 25 years as a cop."

Invented as an anesthetic in the 1950s, GHB was used by athletes in the
1980s as a performance-enhancing drug. It can be made using hardware store
chemicals and is essentially colorless and odorless, according to law
enforcement sources.

It also is known as "liquid ecstasy," "Georgia homeboy," "scoop" and "cherry
meth."

The drug became popular in the '90s as people tried to get high without a
hangover. GHB was linked to actor River Phoenix's overdose death outside a
Los Angeles nightclub in 1993.

More recently, GHB has become a "date-rape" drug because it can knock people
out.

GHB is very unpredictable. Because the dosages are so small -- often a
teaspoon or just a bottle cap full -- it's easy to take too much, Porrata said.

"Because it puts you in a coma, you die from really stupid things," Porrata
said. "Simple, simple things," like choking on gum or suffocating on a
pillow can kill GHB users.

Local narcotics officers said they do not encounter the drug very often. But
last year, a football player in Tracy was hospitalized after taking GHB. A
17-year-old later was convicted of giving him the drug.

GHB also is blamed in the recent death of a 23-year-old San Jose woman.
Someone slipped a fatal amount of the chemical into a cocktail, Porrata
said. Cases of overdoses, comas and deaths related to GHB seem to be on the
rise in California this year, Porrata said.

Statistics on deaths are apochryphal because the drug often is combined with
alcohol, Porrata said.

She said the Internet is the biggest source of misinformation on GHB.
Besides promoting the drug, people urge others not to call 911 if a user
passes out.

But the treatment for people high on GHB is to put them on life support
until the effects wear off, Porrata said.

Pauline Fa'asisila hopes parents educate themselves to the danger whether or
not GHB turns out to be the cause of her son's death. His legacy can help
others, she said.

The Fa'asisila family originally criticized police for not looking for the
teen quickly enough. But police did more to search for him than is required
by a recently passed state law.

Huntwood Avenue residents upset by the boy's death since have formed
Neighborhood Watch groups, trimmed bushes along the railroad tracks and
organized a series of cleanups.

"People can get together. James won't come back but ... we can help parents
open up their eyes to their children," his mother said.

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