Pubdate: 4 Mar 1999
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright: 1999 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.phillynews.com/
Forum: http://interactive.phillynews.com/talk-show/
Author: Amy S. Rosenberg

NEW DRUG IN USE AT A.C. CLUBS

The mix of an herbal aid and a cat tranquilizer can cause a comalike state.

ATLANTIC CITY -- The music is a bass-filled techno style, booming and
intense, with laser light shows.

The all-night clubs are packed.

The parties can last for days. And in the midst of this, reports an
Atlantic City police detective, are "a staggering amount of grown people
sucking on lollipops."

Lollipops? That is a signal, apparently, that the person has ingested a
trendy narcotic concocted from cat tranquilizers and a so-far-legal herbal
nutritional supplement that converts in the bloodstream to an illegal
substance.

The other signal -- for at least eight men in Atlantic City in the last six
weeks and probably, police believe, lots more -- is falling into a comalike
stupor that can last for hours. Vice officers in Atlantic City have taken
to hanging out in all-night clubs, notably Studio Six and the Brass Rail,
that have been hosting the intense dance parties known as raves.

On Sunday, two men were taken to the Atlantic City Medical Center after one
of the officers saw them fall unconscious at Studio Six. Their heartbeats
were erratic and their pulses weak. They woke up several hours later with
few side effects, according to police.

That evening, police raided a home on South Delancy Place and arrested two
other men cooking ketamine, the cat tranquilizer, on a plate on a stove.
The two men -- Marc Summerson, 23, of Mays Landing, and Michael Edwards,
26, of Berlin -- were arrested and charged with manufacturing and
possessing flunitrazepam, the substance in the tranquilizer. Summerson was
released after posting $500 cash bail, and Edwards remained in custody.

Police said their surveillance at Studio Six over the weekend led them to
the home where the men were arrested. Atlantic City Vice Capt. Joseph Fair
said the cooked ketamine, known as Special K, is being combined with
narcotics known as Ecstasy and GBL, a dietary supplement that is converted
into the drug GHB, or gamma hydroxy butyric acid, when ingested. The
combination can act as a hallucinogenic and sexual enhancer, police say.

In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that
people should not consume a chemical widely sold in health-food stores and
over the Internet that has been linked nationwide to one death and 54 cases
of severe reactions, including seizures and comalike states. The state
Senate Judiciary Committee is considering banning these dietary supplements
that convert into illegal drugs in light of six other overdoses since January.

The drugs are dangerous when combined with alcohol, which has resulted in
bottled water being the drink of choice in the all-night clubs, according
to police.

"To show the effects that these drugs have taken on the businesses, a
typical eight-ounce bottle of water sells in these clubs for an average of
$4," Vice Detective Christopher Barber wrote in a report. "The clubs had
taken a reduction in alcohol sales so have made the difference up by
increasing the price of water."

Barber said the men and women in their 20s are coming to Atlantic City from
other parts of New Jersey and from Philadelphia to participate in the
all-weekend dance and drug parties. Studio Six and the Brass Rail Bar, two
of several all-night clubs, are owned by Atlantic City Councilman John
Schultz, who was out of the country and unavailable for comment yesterday.

Police said Schultz has been cooperating with them and has installed video
monitoring. Although the drug GHB has been called a "date-rape drug" --
secretly dropped by one person into another's drink -- the overdoses in
Atlantic City have been in people who willingly ingested the substances,
according to police. The supplement GBL, or gamma butyrolactone -- sold
under brand names such as Blue Nitro, Renutrient, Revitalizer and Gamma G
- -- is advertised as a muscle builder, stress reducer and sex-drive enhancer.

Police and local medical personnel are warning users that they could fall
into a comalike state for hours, leaving them vulnerable to sexual assault
and the possibility of choking on their own vomit. Boxes carry warnings
that the product, if taken in high doses, may induce a "deep sleep." The
labels suggest that users warn friends that they may be unrousable, and
advise them not to seek emergency medical treatment.

The labels suggest the user "sleep it off." "Give me a break," Fair said
yesterday. "It's ludicrous." 
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MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski