Ted Leggett
As of November 3, the substance Gamma- hydroxy butyrate (GHB) was banned, largely due to its alleged use as a date-rape drug. This is despite the fact that of the more than 50 000 cases of rape reported each year, not one has ever been linked to GHB in South Africa.
If preventing even a single rape were as simple as outlawing a chemi-cal, the state could feel perfectly justified in taking this step. But, as considerable experience both here and abroad has shown, prohibition of any drug has significant social costs that need to be tallied against any alleged gains.
GHB is used recreationally under the rather inappropriate street name “liquid ecstasy”. In fact it is in no way related to the drug commonly referred to as “ecstasy” (3,4, methylene dioxymethamphetamine or MDMA).
MDMA is a stimulant, whereas the effects of GHB are sedative. The similarity arises in the fact that both drugs enhance sociability and tactile sensitivity. Both drugs are popular among white youth in South Africa, although GHB’s use is far less common. While the recreational effects are fairly benign, GHB is highly dose dependent. Slightly too much results in what is technically classed as a coma, in which no amount of stimulation will rouse the user. This “coma”, however, is short-lived, since GHB dissipates from the body in a few hours. Despite the period of deep unconsciousness, most users do not even report a hangover.
The primary danger lies in the inappropriate response of friends, family or health-care workers. Unnecessarily invasive procedures like intubation and cardiac stimulation are not only useless; they can be harmful. As with any state of deep unconsciousness it is important that users be kept safe from harm and watched so they don’t aspirate their own vomit. GHB can produce nausea, so unconscious users should be rolled on their side and monitored. Another serious risk lies in the combination of such a powerful sedative with other depressants, such as alcohol. As is the case with many other drugs, this can result in death, and thus the danger of alcoholic drinks spiked with GHB is considerable.
With all these risks, it might sound like sound policy to ban the substance outright. But without the capacity to enforce complete prohibition, this would only stand to make matters worse. Currently users are consuming pharmaceutical GHB, or drugs synthesised by local specialists distributed along trust networks. Both of these sources of high- quality GHB would be targeted by law enforcement in the event of a ban. Unfortunately GHB is easily synthesised using chemicals that are available via the Internet. Targeting big distributors will only result in the emergence of scores of bath-tub chemists filling the market gap, with potentially disastrous results.
Ultimately the ban will transfer the profits to organised crime, which may very well market the drug until it is as common as ecstasy. But the state has a response to such arguments. It is not the voluntary users that this ban is designed to protect, but rather those who are being fed the drug without their knowledge for the purposes of date rape.
Apparently the government believes this mode of operation is common in South Africa.
Unfortunately, since GHB disappears from the blood in a few hours, the only evidence law enforcement is able to give to support their allegation is extremely anecdotal.
There have apparently been a few recent cases in which women were rendered unconscious by an unknown substance, and the drugs commonly associated with date rape (Rohypnol and ketamine) were not found in the victims’ blood or urine. By a kind of process of elimination, it is supposed that GHB was the cause.
This is hardly a sound basis on which to form criminal justice policy. Rather than focusing on the instrumental use of a substance whose presence can only be inferred, the state response to date rape should focus on the offence itself. Having sex with an unconscious person should be illegal, however she got that way. Using chemicals of any kind (including the most popular date-rape drug of all – alcohol) to induce unconsciousness in another person, especially for the purposes of having sex with them, should be condemned with the full weight of the law. Driving yet another chemical underground is not the answer. Both Rohypnol and ketamine continue to be easily accessible to the aspiring date rapist, despite their illegality. And, should underground sources fail, there is always the tried and true bottle or two of Chianti.