killarava2day
Ex-Bluelighter
New party drug leaves no margin for error
Reporter: Mick Bunworth
KERRY O'BRIEN: It's an illicit party drug with no margin for error and emergency medical staff around the country are reporting an increase in its use.
GHB -- gamma-hydroxybutyrate -- is cheap, easy to manufacture or buy and will render its users unconscious and unable to breathe if they overdose by just a few millilitres.
Little wonder it's been dubbed by some as GBH -- grievous bodily harm.
Mick Bunworth reports.
'MARK', GHB USER: Well,it is a dangerous drug.
There's danger wherever you take it, there is always going to be danger.
Also, at those sort of places your friends run off, leave you or, you know, you may took too much because you're not dosing right in the right atmosphere, right light.
MICK BUNWORTH: Drugs and dance parties.
It's no secret that where you find one you'll usually find the other.
But it's a recent addition to the dance party drug menu, gamma-hydroxybutyrate or GHB, that has those who know this scene so worried.
PAUL DILLON, NATIONAL DRUG & ALCOHOL RESEARCH CENTRE: I think the reality is that most young people who use GHB don't even really realise that they're using GHB.
Many are being sold the drug as liquid E, liquid X or liquid ecstasy believing it to be ecstasy in a liquid form.
MICK BUNWORTH: But whereas ecstasy is a stimulant, GHB is a central nervous system depressant, originally developed as an anaesthetic and that's what makes it such a dangerous drug.
PAUL DILLON: When it comes to GHB, the difference between having a pleasurable experience and the chance of you ending up on life support in an emergency room is very, very small.
If you look at a drug like ecstasy, the gap between those two is really quite huge.
PAUL CURRIE, DIRECTOR, 'ONE PERFECT DAY': It's a really dangerous drug that is given to young people because they can't afford to take an E, so a lot of people call it like liquid ecstasy, they will take this cheap hit to feel good but it's really dangerous and it's almost, even within the culture, it's really looked down upon.
MICK BUNWORTH: Director Paul Currie has spent the past two years making the recently released picture film One Perfect Day which celebrates the rave scene but also deals with drugs and death.
PAUL CURRIE: We just said, "Here's a young girl that's experimenting with a cocktail and that can be fatal."
And statistics would prove that, that when you start experimenting, particularly without knowing what you're taking, that is where it get dangerous.
MICK BUNWORTH: But the events depicted in 'One Perfect Day' could be a case of art imitating life.
Recently, several hospitals in Melbourne experienced a surge in GHB overdoses after dance parties in the city.
The overdoses created headlines on the day, but paramedics say they've been dealing with GHB's casualties for several years.
ALAN EADE, PARAMEDIC: The last nine months have seen a dramatic spike in GHB presentations to ambulance and so I correlate that there is an increase in use.
MICK BUNWORTH: It's not surprising that GHB use is on the rise.
The 7.30 Report was able to find recipes for GHB on the Internet within seconds.
And even within the rave community, the drug is dividing opinion.
In monitoring Internet forums, we discovered that some people who may use ecstasy or other substance are vehemently opposed to GHB.
And the range of people exposed to the drug runs right across the community.
One person with the pseudonym Candy Raver declined our request for an interview because he or she was a doctor.
But one user, we'll call him Mark, did agree to an interview.
He also agreed to show us what GHB looks like and what precautions he takes so that he and his friend don't overdose.
Why do you take it?
'MARK': Um, good question, why do people drink?
I guess to get the relaxed feeling.
When I first felt the feelings of it -it's euphoric, sense of wellbeing, relax.
This is the pure G.
I usually use a measuring syringe.
I know that 2mm of pure is right for me.
So I've diluted the water so it's nine parts water and one part G.
I've diluted it so, 20mm is the right dose for me.
I'll put that in a glass, mix with orange juice.
ALAN EADE: The users who think that they can use GHB safely are kidding themselves.
more...
Reporter: Mick Bunworth
KERRY O'BRIEN: It's an illicit party drug with no margin for error and emergency medical staff around the country are reporting an increase in its use.
GHB -- gamma-hydroxybutyrate -- is cheap, easy to manufacture or buy and will render its users unconscious and unable to breathe if they overdose by just a few millilitres.
Little wonder it's been dubbed by some as GBH -- grievous bodily harm.
Mick Bunworth reports.
'MARK', GHB USER: Well,it is a dangerous drug.
There's danger wherever you take it, there is always going to be danger.
Also, at those sort of places your friends run off, leave you or, you know, you may took too much because you're not dosing right in the right atmosphere, right light.
MICK BUNWORTH: Drugs and dance parties.
It's no secret that where you find one you'll usually find the other.
But it's a recent addition to the dance party drug menu, gamma-hydroxybutyrate or GHB, that has those who know this scene so worried.
PAUL DILLON, NATIONAL DRUG & ALCOHOL RESEARCH CENTRE: I think the reality is that most young people who use GHB don't even really realise that they're using GHB.
Many are being sold the drug as liquid E, liquid X or liquid ecstasy believing it to be ecstasy in a liquid form.
MICK BUNWORTH: But whereas ecstasy is a stimulant, GHB is a central nervous system depressant, originally developed as an anaesthetic and that's what makes it such a dangerous drug.
PAUL DILLON: When it comes to GHB, the difference between having a pleasurable experience and the chance of you ending up on life support in an emergency room is very, very small.
If you look at a drug like ecstasy, the gap between those two is really quite huge.
PAUL CURRIE, DIRECTOR, 'ONE PERFECT DAY': It's a really dangerous drug that is given to young people because they can't afford to take an E, so a lot of people call it like liquid ecstasy, they will take this cheap hit to feel good but it's really dangerous and it's almost, even within the culture, it's really looked down upon.
MICK BUNWORTH: Director Paul Currie has spent the past two years making the recently released picture film One Perfect Day which celebrates the rave scene but also deals with drugs and death.
PAUL CURRIE: We just said, "Here's a young girl that's experimenting with a cocktail and that can be fatal."
And statistics would prove that, that when you start experimenting, particularly without knowing what you're taking, that is where it get dangerous.
MICK BUNWORTH: But the events depicted in 'One Perfect Day' could be a case of art imitating life.
Recently, several hospitals in Melbourne experienced a surge in GHB overdoses after dance parties in the city.
The overdoses created headlines on the day, but paramedics say they've been dealing with GHB's casualties for several years.
ALAN EADE, PARAMEDIC: The last nine months have seen a dramatic spike in GHB presentations to ambulance and so I correlate that there is an increase in use.
MICK BUNWORTH: It's not surprising that GHB use is on the rise.
The 7.30 Report was able to find recipes for GHB on the Internet within seconds.
And even within the rave community, the drug is dividing opinion.
In monitoring Internet forums, we discovered that some people who may use ecstasy or other substance are vehemently opposed to GHB.
And the range of people exposed to the drug runs right across the community.
One person with the pseudonym Candy Raver declined our request for an interview because he or she was a doctor.
But one user, we'll call him Mark, did agree to an interview.
He also agreed to show us what GHB looks like and what precautions he takes so that he and his friend don't overdose.
Why do you take it?
'MARK': Um, good question, why do people drink?
I guess to get the relaxed feeling.
When I first felt the feelings of it -it's euphoric, sense of wellbeing, relax.
This is the pure G.
I usually use a measuring syringe.
I know that 2mm of pure is right for me.
So I've diluted the water so it's nine parts water and one part G.
I've diluted it so, 20mm is the right dose for me.
I'll put that in a glass, mix with orange juice.
ALAN EADE: The users who think that they can use GHB safely are kidding themselves.
more...
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If that's not a raver forum in-joke, then I don't know what is.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
