# ghb

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 18, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476 "2000-10-18T23:48:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sunrise\_4836](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@sunrise\_4836](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunrise_4836)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476/1 "2000-10-18T23:48:10Z")

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In our area, students seem to be dropping like flies over ghb. All I know is that it is a liquid drug that is like a white trash crack addiction. Any history/news out there on this drug?

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476/2 "2000-10-19T00:16:16Z")

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Well, I doubt this is the information you’re looking for, but it stands for gammahydroxybutyrate and it looks like this:

```auto

  OH
  |
O=C-CH[sub]2[/sub]-CH[sub]2[/sub]-CH[sub]2[/sub]OH

```

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**Author:** ![LisaRx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@LisaRx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LisaRx)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476/3 "2000-10-19T00:29:57Z")

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Check out:

> **[Founders of Project GHB](http://www.ashesonthesea.com/project-ghb-redirect.html)**
>
> In April of 1998, Ken's son Caleb Shortridge died from an accidental overdose of the substance known as GHB , or Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate. This original GHB website started out as a quick project with...

It’s one of the common “date-rape drugs”. I remember seeing a case on CourtTV where it was involved. The scary thing is that it used to be purchased at health food stores. I don’t know if this is still true.

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**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476/4 "2000-10-20T20:26:18Z")

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GHB is one of the newer fad drugs sweeping the country. Like DXM , MDMA, and others, it’s been around for a while, but has only recently been really catching on among our youths.

It’s easily synthesized with a little kitchen chemistry and some GABA bought from a health food store.

GHB was lauded in the late sixties as a wonderful catch-all for psychopharmacology. It was a nice anti-depressant, euphoriant, relaxant. No horrendous side effects. But it also produced unconscious spells (more like deep sleep than anything else).

hence the date rape angle. drop a bit into someone’s drink, and have yor way. really a tawdry and disgusting way to bury an otherwise effective drug.

btw, most of the kids dropping like flies aren’t in a dire way. But their parents or school administrators or whatever don’t (wisely) want to take any chances.

not only is it easy to take too big of a dose, but there’s a lot of bad kitchen chemistry resulting in some crappy contaminated doses.

jb

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**Author:** ![Meephead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Meephead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meephead)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghb/37476/5 "2000-10-20T21:44:39Z")

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Lots of good, unbiased info here:

[www.erowid.org/chemicals/ghb/ghb.shtml](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ghb/ghb.shtml)