Know the facts and connect with support to help you address known or suspected substance use with your child. GHB Gamma hydroxybutyrate is predominantly a central nervous system depressant. GHB is often manufactured in homes with recipes and kits found and purchased on the Internet. GHB is made from a combination of gamma butyrolactone GBL and sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide.
These substances are more commonly used as floor stripping solvents and drain cleaners. It is colorless and odorless. GHB is usually taken orally, either in liquid or powder form.
GHB has a salty taste; however it is often diluted in liquids and virtually undetectable. Body builders have been known to use GHB to stimulate muscle growth. GHB is a central nervous system depressant. That means it makes you sleepy, and slows down your breathing and heart rate. The only current medical use of GHB in Canada is as a treatment for narcolepsy, a rare sleep disorder. Access to pharmaceutical GHB is tightly regulated.
GHB that is sold as a street drug is produced illegally using chemicals and processes that vary from lab to lab. The strength and purity of the final product also vary. When ingested, these substances are converted by the body into GHB. In its liquid form, GHB looks like water. It has no smell, and is tasteless or has a slightly salty or solvent taste that can be easily masked.
It is usually sold as a liquid in small vials. GHB is also available as a white powder or capsule. Users of GHB include body builders who believe the drug can help to reduce fat and build muscles. GHB also stimulates human growth hormone. Some users claim GHB enhances sexuality. People who experience cataplexy sudden loss of muscle tone associated with narcolepsy may be prescribed GHB in its pharmaceutical form, known as Xyrem. For people with this condition, taking the drug at night helps to reduce daytime sleepiness.
A survey of Ontario students in grades 7 to 12 reported that 0. Adult use of GHB in Canada has not been studied. The way you feel when you take GHB is similar to the way some people feel when they drink alcohol. At a low dose, users usually feel more sociable, less inhibited and lightheaded. A slightly higher dose intensifies these effects or makes you drowsy and dizzy. A little more may cause nausea and vomiting, and a higher dose can make you slip into a deep sleep.
An overdose can result in difficulty breathing, a lowered heart rate, convulsions and even death. With GHB there is only a slight difference between a dose that produces the desired effects and a dose that puts the user at risk.
If you have a little too much GHB, the consequences can be fatal. The effects of GHB can generally be felt 10 to 20 minutes after you take it, and can last up to four hours, depending on the dose. It is also called fishies because it is sometimes sold in the small fish-shaped soy sauce containers sold with sushi.
People usually swallow it, but can inject it or insert it anally. A major drug survey found only 0. People most likely to use GHB usually use other drugs as well.
GHB use has recently increased among regular ecstasy and methamphetamine users but is still infrequent. Of those who reported using it in , most said they had used it two or three times that year. No-one is certain what naturally-occurring GHB does in the body.
Its effects on the body start within five to 20 minutes of taking the drug and last three to four hours. GHB causes a loss of inhibition, relaxes people, boosts their sex drive and promotes feelings of euphoria.
But side-effects include memory lapses, drowsiness, clumsiness, dizziness or headache, lowered temperature, tremors, nausea and diarrhoea. The effects of the drug vary according to how much people take usually 0.
Symptoms of a GHB overdose include vomiting, sweating, shallow breathing, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, seizures, blackouts and unconsciousness for several hours. Some people have died from GHB because they appear to have gone to sleep but are actually unconscious and have stopped breathing. In , three children were hospitalised after swallowing the beads, made using an incorrect chemical, which turned into GHB in the stomach.
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