TV 2 has told about Ida (19), who thinks she was drugged at a party. On the way home in the car with his father, the 19-year-old stopped breathing.
Read the case: Ida (19) thinks she was drugged at a party – stopped breathing on the way home
The symptoms of hallucinations and respiratory arrest that Ida experienced are consistent with the fact that she may have received an overdose of the party and rape drug GHB.
– Exactly this case is a glaring example of how close it is between life and death when it comes to using GHB, says psychologist specialist at the Blue Cross Borgestad Clinic in Skien, Mai-Britt Grøsfjeld.
She has extensive experience with the treatment of drug addicts, and has talked to several who have both used GHB and produced the drug.
– AT HOSPITAL: Ida Talberg Herje had a respiratory arrest after a party. Photo: Private
–
Developed as a medicine in the 60’s
Grøsfjeld says that the tasteless and odorless liquid was developed in the 60s as a medicine for serious sleep problems such as narcolepsy. In Italy and Austria, they still use GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) in the treatment of alcohol addicts.
– But in the 80’s someone found out that if they increased the dose a bit, they got a different effect. You became very energetic, became limitless, got more sex drive, ie a perfect party baptism, says Grøsfjeld.
– If you take an even slightly larger dose, you become very relaxed and more and more lethargic. But the limit above that there can be an overdose and deaths is very narrow and very unpredictable.
– WARNING: Many of those who make GHB are themselves drug addicts, according to psychologist specialist Mai-Britt Grøsfjeld at the Blue Cross Borgestad Clinic in Skien. Photo: Harald Bjørnson Jacobsen / TV 2
–
Intoxicated kitchen countertop manufacturers
In addition, GHBs that are sold in drug environments are often produced by drug addicts themselves, according to the expert. Grøsfjeld believes that the effect of such GHB produced in drug environments can be totally unpredictable.
Through his work with drug addicts, Grøsfjeld has talked to several people who produce GHB at home on the kitchen counter.
– This is not made in laboratories, it is made at home in the kitchen. I have met many in my practice who have it as a business to finance their own drug abuse, she says.
– The result is so-so when you are not completely ready when you make it, so I would not have taken the risk of it.
– HALDEN: Seized GHB in the center of Halden. Photo: Police / Scanpix
–
Grøsfjeld believes that the risk of using home-produced GHB is very high, because there is no guarantee that the mixing ratio is correct and how strong the substance is.
– There are very small margins for when it goes over, says Grøsfjeld.
They think they’re fixing it
– How do the GHB producers you have talked to view what they do?
– They have had faith in themselves and that these are things they fix well. They are concerned about their reputation and that it should be proper, says Grøsfjeld.
However, she points out that she talks to them while they are completely drug-free.
– It is if one is intoxicated and has to mix this up, that I have doubts. I think it will be difficult to trust someone who has been at home in the amateur stage and mixed together. One never knows what one will get, not from anyone.
– Can be a killer
19-year-old Ida had the margins on her side, but Grøsfjeld warns that people who use GHB as a rape drug quickly risk becoming killers.
– When you give others GHB, as in this case, you actually risk becoming a killer. The limit to overdose and death is very narrow and very unpredictable.
In Europe, GHB overdoses are considered the fourth leading cause of drug-related inquiries to emergency departments. Nevertheless, there has been very little research on the effects of GHB in relation to other drugs.
In Dutch doctoral dissertation from 2020 shows that there is a connection between repeated GHB overdoses and damage to the brain.
– When you see those findings, it is a crossroads that no more research has been done on this, says Grøsfjeld.
–
