Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Is GHB the safest drug?

Is GHB the safest drug??Is GHB the safest drug?If no,...what about weed and magic shrooms?
Answer:
No drug is "safe". Every drug has toxicities and risks associated with it.Is it really worth it?
I think GHB is used to put dogs and cats to sleep. That should tell you something. Pot is often laced with things that are not safe and/or found in nature. Shrooms can make you hallucinate and you can unintentionally put yourself in danger since you are not in your right mind. No drugs are safe.
As with pure alcohol, the dose-response curve is very steep, and proper dosing of illegal GHB can be difficult since it often comes as a salt dissolved in water, and the actual amount of GHB and/or other additives per "capful" can vary. Legal GHB comes in standardized doses and is free from contaminants, so it is much safer (cf. legal alcohol vs. bathtub gin). Also, like pure alcohol, small doses of GHB are considered safe, but high doses can cause unconsciousness, convulsions, vomiting, suppression of the gag reflex and respiratory depression. These effects vary between persons and are dose dependent. Synergy of its sedative effects are seen when combined with other CNS depressants such as alcohol, benzodiazepines (e.g. diazepam), barbiturates, and others.Another complication is the difference in pharmacokinetics between GHB and its two prodrugs, 1,4-B and GBL. 1,4-butanediol is converted into GHB in the body by two enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, which gives it a delayed onset of effects and a longer duration of action. GHB is then further metabolised, again by alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, into the inactive succinate. If alcohol has also been consumed this can saturate the dehydrogenase enzymes and so delays the conversion of 1,4-B into GHB, meaning that 1,4-B takes much longer to take effect and people may re-dose thinking it hasn't done anything, leading to an accidental overdose later on once it finally takes effect. 1,4-B itself can also contribute to the enzyme saturation, so when alcohol and 1,4-B are consumed together it produces a complex and somewhat unpredictable interaction between the varying levels of alcohol, 1,4-B and GHB present in the body. Alcohol also makes the GHB last longer in the body by competing for dehydrogenase enzymes and hence delaying the conversion of GHB into succinate.The other precursor gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) is rapidly converted into GHB by lactamase enzymes found in the blood. GBL is more lipophillic (fat soluble) than GHB and so is absorbed faster and has higher bioavailability; paradoxically this can mean that GBL has a faster onset of effects than GHB itself even though it is a prodrug. The levels of lactamase enzyme can vary between individuals and GBL is not active in its own right, so people who have never tried GBL before may have delayed or less effects than expected; however once someone has taken GBL a few times the production of lactamase enzymes is increased and they will feel the effects like normal. Because of these pharmacokinetic differences, 1,4-B tends to be slightly less potent, slower to take effect but longer acting than GHB, while GBL tends to be more potent and faster acting than GHB, and lasts around the same duration. The growth hormone releasing effects of GHB which have led to its use by bodybuilders are actually mediated by the metabolite succinate, and so these beneficial effects can be achieved by taking succinate instead of GHB which avoids the potential dangers, abuse potential and illegal status of GHB itself. [citation needed]Alcohol worsens both CNS depression and vomiting, so combination of alcohol with GHB or its precursors is a particularly dangerous combination. Another factor to be considered is that people who drink alcohol regularly tend to induce expression of their dehydrogenase enzymes and thus have higher levels of these enzymes than people who do not drink alcohol regularly; this means that regular alcohol drinkers will both convert 1,4-B into GHB more rapidly, and also break down GHB into succinate faster than people who don't drink alcohol. This multitude of different factors can make the interactions between 1,4-B, GHB and alcohol very complicated and highly variable between different individuals.Death while using GHB is most likely when it is combined with alcohol or other depressant drugs, however as with all substances, an overdose of GHB alone may be lethal. A review of the details of 194 deaths attributed to or related to GHB over a ten year period[5] found that most were from respiratory depression caused by interaction with alcohol or other drugs; several were from choking on vomit and asphyxiating; remaining causes of death included motor vehicle and other accidents. The review included 70 cases where high levels of GHB were found post-mortem without concomitant ingestion of other drugs or alcohol.Determining conclusively whether someone's death was caused by GHB is very difficult because a lab test will always detect the presence of some GHB in the human body, and levels of GHB can vary in the same individual depending on what part of the body is tested. GHB is a naturally occurring substance that is always present in everyone, but little research has been done on what levels are normal in what parts of the body at what times.There have been no systematic studies into the effects of GHB if taken chronically in humans, and hence whether prolonged use of GHB causes any bodily harm remains unknown. A UK parliamentary committee commissioned report found the use of GHB to be less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol in social harms, physical harm and addiction.[6]

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