Broken Mind: GHB Withdrawal

[Dale]

The drug Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate, GHB, has been known as the date rape drug for years. What is less well known is that is also being used in other ways, not only by "recreational" drug users but also by athletes and body builders. In some cases these people do not even realize they are taking such a controversial drug because it isn't labeled that way in the supplements they take.

In the story below, prominent journalist Jan Hollingsworth, of the Tampa Tribune and formerly of the Miami Herald, tells how her son became a victim of GHB. Once a high school athlete with Olympic ambitions, he started taking a GHB containing supplement as a body building aid. By his junior year of college he suffered a breakdown, bashing his head on a concrete patio, talking with angels, and proclaiming himself to be Jesus Christ. After months of struggle, eventually he doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire, ending his life.

Unfortunately, this is not a unique case.

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A public defender assigned to Will’s case blocked every effort to give him intravenous fluids and nutrients. If he wanted to starve himself, it wasn’t our business, or his doctor’s, she said.
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http://www.tbo.com/news/reports/ghb/

A Broken Mind

By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov. 12, 2006

 

[Dale]

http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBJGJFGDUE.html

from the Tampa Tribune

FAMOUS GHB CASES

Skip directly to the full story.
Published: Nov 10, 2006



Numerous GHB-related incidents involving high-profile figures have come to light in the years since the dietary supplement was declared a controlled substance. Here are a few of them.

Nick Nolte
The actor was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence in 2002 and tested positive for GHB. He pleaded no contest and said he inadvertently consumed the drug in the course of taking a weight-lifting supplement.

Pete Rose Jr.
The son of the Major League Baseball legend was sentenced in May to one month in jail and five months of house arrest for trafficking in GBL — an analogue of GHB — while playing for the minor league Chattanooga Lookouts in 2001. Rose, who faced as much as two years in prison, said he used it as a sleep aid and sold it to his teammates

Matt Munyon
The former Florida State University placekicker was hospitalized in 2001 after suffering a seizure police said “was treated as a GHB overdose.” Munyon denied using any drugs, despite the presence of marijuana in his urine. He was dismissed from the team, without explanation, after the incident.

Mike Fox
Longtime friend and personal trainer to baseball star Mike Piazza and other athletes, Fox committed suicide in 2001 after a lengthy battle with GHB addiction.

Tom Gugliotta
The Phoenix Suns forward went public about GHB use among ballplayers after he collapsed and nearly died in 1999 from a supplement a friend gave him to help him sleep.