Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 1999
Source: Michigan Daily (MI)
Copyright: 1999 The Michigan Daily
Contact:  420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327
Website: http://www.michigandaily.com/
Author: Hanna Lopatin
Link: to Michigan articles at:
http://www.mapinc.org/states/mi

ACT MAY FEDERALLY PROHIBIT GHB

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Congress has finished its 1999 session, but when they
reconvene in January, one of the most prominent drugs on college campuses
officially could become a federally controlled substance.

Gamma hydroxbutyrate, more commonly known as GHB, has been used for
recreational purposes and as a date-rape drug and is responsible for 19
deaths nationwide. Traces of the drug were found in University student
Courtney Cantor, who died after falling from her sixth-floor Mary Markley
Residence Hall window last year.

Congressmen Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) and Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) created
the bill, which has already been approved by both the U.S. House of
Representatives and the Senate. In the Senate, Sen. Spencer Abraham
(R-Michigan) sponsored what has been called the "Samantha Reid Date Rape
Drug Prohibition Act of 1999," in memory of the Gross Ile, Mich., teen who
died from unknowingly ingesting the drug.

In a visit to Warren Fitzgerald High School on Tuesday, Abraham called the
bill "one of the most important pieces of legislation to pass the Senate."

Upton's Press Secretary David Woodruff said that "legislative wrangling" at
the end of the session kept the bill from getting in a position to be sent
to President Clinton.

Woodruff said that he is confident that the bill will pass easily when
Congress reconvenes. "It was passed by such a wide margin in both the House
and the Senate," he said.

Once the bill is signed it will classify GHB as a "Schedule One" drug - the
toughest and strictest classification.

"It will give law enforcement the tools they need to stop this problem in
its tracks," Woodruff said. "We can finally provide some real answers to
this problem."

Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team Sgt. Khurum Sheikh said
the new classification would implement "a higher penalty. Ideally, it will
deter people from using."

But Sheikh said he is cautiously optimistic. "It's a start," he said, "but
obviously penalties alone don't deter people."

Sheikh said he believes people will most likely stop using GHB after
reading and hearing about overdoses.

Medical toxicologist Hernan Gomez, who is a clinical assistant professor of
emergency medicine at the University, said he thought the measure was "very
appropriate."

"It's a drug which is readily available through any number of sources,"
Gomez said. The bill "makes it clear to the nation that this is a drug
which has very significant health affects."

Gomez also talked about Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy, a new test
that is very sensitive to GHB in urine. Although the test has been
incorporated in the laboratories, Gomez said, "All technicians haven't
quite been trained. It's just a matter of time. (The test) should be up and
running in the next couple of months."
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