Grievous Bodily Harm !

Will we dumb humans ever learn ?  The search for a "party high " seems to induce us to try just about anything offered on the illicit drug scene, often without the slightest knowledge of what danger may be involved.   This weekend eight people ended up in intensive care at St Vincents hospital - and one died - because an old drug reappeared on Sydney streets.

This is known as "GHB "- but years ago users mangled the letters to refer to it as "Grievous Bodily Harm " because of the danger it delivered.  In its latest form it is sometimes called "Fantasy "or simply "G ".   From a chemical point of view - Gamma-hydroxybutyrate.   It seems to be the latest addition on the drug scene to be imported from overseas.

What is truly frightening is the effect it has on the human body.   It slows down the central nervous system to the point of the user losing consciousness - and for that reason it has been called a "Coma in a bottle "- because it comes in liquid form, and is usually combined and taken with alcohol.  As a result, the user finds it difficult to measure the dose.

This is a drug that can very easily kill a first time user and because it is "new " in the sense that it is not usually available on the Australian market, many will rush to give it a try.   That seems to be the type of thinking that totally mystifies those tasked with trying to understand the drug scene - because it makes absolutely no sense.

People drink alcohol to get a "high " and they are aware of how it will affect them. Many use "Ecstacy " - either on it's own or mixed with alcohol - because of previous experience with this drug . Unfortunately, if they encounter a bad batch produced in some backyard kitchen it can deliver unintended results - and sometimes death, but that is a risk known to all users. But the odds are in the users favour.  Every weekend perhaps hundreds of thousands of Ecstacy pills are popped - and when a death occurs it makes a news item on the media.

Somewhere in  this drug culture lurks the risk of "addiction ".   Some people get addicted to alcohol. Many find themselves addicted if they progress to heroin or cocaine, but Ecstacy seems more of a substitute for alcohol for many people.  They seem to think it delivers that "high " without the stumbling incoherence that goes with alcohol - and for that reason it is a "safe "drug.

One of the problems with the drug culture is the more successful the police and customs are in seizing imports and shutting down drug labs the more reason users have to try something new when the supply chain is interrupted.  In many instances, success is counter productive when something like GHB suddenly appears on the market.

Apart from the surge of patients being treated in intensive care - and the likelihood that there will be more deaths - factors like road safety  come into the picture.  Anyone driving a car with a suppressed central nervous system would be lethal - and it remains to be seen if GHB can be detected in the usual roadside screening regimen.

Many have lost hope that we will ever win the war against drugs - and now it seems that the police sniffer dogs will have to add a new scent to their repertoire !