Date rape drug GHB pushing aside ecstasy

Edmonton police say they've made one of the largest drug busts ever in Alberta for the date rape drug known as GHB, a drug elbowing aside ecstasy as the choice at dance parties.

Police seized 106 litres of the drug, enough to make more than 10,000 doses with an estimated street value of $212,000, after converging on a house on July 9th as a woman unloaded boxes of one-litre bottles at a home in northeast Edmonton.

The two-month investigation also yielded  $80,000 worth of cocaine and $15,000 in cash. 

GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, is an anesthetic occasionally used to treat conditions including insomnia and depression, but became known as a date rape drug.

The drug, sometimes known as liquid ecstasy, is now more often taken recreationally as a stimulant and aphrodisiac at raves or dance parties.

That worries police, especially when it's mixed with alcohol.

"The fine line between getting the hallucination you want and the effects you want from GHB at a good dose and the dose that's going to put you into a coma is very fine," said Det. Guy Pilon. "Users have to be very careful as to how they're dosing themselves with the drug, so it's dangerous in that respect."

Five years ago, GHB was practically non-existent in the city, but has spiked in the past year, Pilon said.

He also said the use of ecstasy is on the decline in favour of GHB and Special K or ketamine, a horse tranquilizer.

A 31-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman are each charged with three counts of trafficking and cocaine conversion.