Congress Toughens Date-Rape Drug Law

Associated Press
February 1, 2000

Congress Toughens Date-Rape Drug Law

By Catherine Strong

Washington, DC (AP)--A bill that would significantly toughen federal laws for possession and distribution of a powerful "date rape" drug passed the House on Monday and was sent to President Clinton for his signature.

GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, has been linked to at least 58 deaths since 1990 and more than 5,700 recorded overdoses, the Drug Enforcement Administration has said.

A few drops of the colorless, odorless drug are usually slipped into a drink. A victim who drinks it can lose consciousness within 20 minutes and often have no memory of what happened. The drug is difficult to trace, often leaving the body within 24 hours.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 339-2, accepting minor revisions made by the Senate, which passed it by voice vote in November. The two House members voting against it were Reps. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., the bill's House sponsor, said Clinton indicated he would sign it.

Upton said GHB was a "dangerous and sometimes fatal drug used to facilitate sexual assaults." He said deaths from the drug "are increasing rapidly," from one in 1990 to 17 last year.

Under the legislation, GHB would be placed in a category of drugs that are the most strictly regulated by the federal Controlled Substances Act. Anyone who possess, manufactures or distributes GHB could face a prison term of up to 20 years.

Exceptions would be made for GHB clinical studies approved by the Food and Drug Administration to determine if the drug helps with medical problems such as narcolepsy, a sleeping disorder.

The legislation also places tougher monitoring controls on the distribution of GBL, a component of GHB which has commercial applications, to try to prevent its diversion for illegal uses.

GHB, which can give users a high, also has been mixed in bathtubs at parties, and instructions on how to make it can be easily obtained over the Internet, authorities say.

The bill is named after two teen-agers who died after GHB was slipped into their soft drinks. One of the girls, 15-year-old Samantha Reid, died last year after the drug was put in her soda at a party in Grosse Ile, Mich.

The other girl, 17-year-old Hillory J. Farias of La Porte, Texas, died in 1996 after having a soft drink laced with GHB at a nightclub.

GHB also is a controlled substance in 20 states including Michigan.

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EDITOR'S NOTE – The bill number is H.R. 2130