GHB: how do I know if I was drugged without my knowledge?

In a bar in Lille, Noémie leaves her drink on the counter to go to the bathroom before having hot flashes. Strange fact: it is 5:30 p.m. and she has only had a few sips of beer. It only takes a fraction of a second for her to fall to the ground, unconscious. She wakes up at 3 a.m., almost fully dressed on her bed, having removed only her jacket and her shoes. Noémie has no memory of the return trip, which she made accompanied by a friend. The lights are all on, the front door is left ajar. "When I woke up, I wasn't hungover at all but I felt a weird feeling in my legs. It all seemed incoherent to me, ”says the young woman.

She then calls her best friend, whose mother is a nurse. "It looks like the effects of GHB," says the latter. The blood test is unequivocal: Noémie has consumed this substance, commonly called “rape drug”, and which is found more and more frequently in the news. In Grenoble, the prosecution even opened an investigation after dozens of students from a management school were drugged at parties. In Hérault, the Association of Montpellier Students also alerted to an increase in cases of chemical submission, the administration of a drug "for criminal or tortious purposes" according to the National Academy of Medicine, generally in cases of sexual assault and rape.

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What is GHB?

GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, is a chemical “that exists as a white crystalline powder, or in liquid form,” explains Professor Laurent Karila, psychiatrist specializing in addiction at Paul Brousse University Hospital in Villejuif. “It will be diluted in a glass or in a bottle of water to be drunk. It is odorless, colorless, with a bitter taste. This anesthetic molecule for medical use has a double action: it is both euphoric and sedative”, adds Laurent Karila. It only takes a moment of inattention for a malicious person to discreetly pour it into a glass left unattended. The vice-president of SOS Addiction insists: it is imperative to always keep an eye on your drink.

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What are its effects?

The effects of GHB on the body can vary depending on who takes it. “This euphoric drug causes loss of control, strong disinhibition and increases sexual desire. At high doses, it can be responsible for coma and overdose”, explains Professor Laurence Lalanne, head of the psychiatry and addictology centers at the CHRU in Strasbourg. "GHB results in impaired consciousness, memory and attention problems that can lead the subject to no longer know what happened during consumption, especially if the dose of GHB is high. “, she adds. And that's not all. Other unwanted effects may appear in the victim, such as "nausea, vomiting, dizziness, altered thinking, slurred speech, but also an inability to make decisions and finally, fever", completes Professor Karila, who notes that the effects “start fifteen minutes after administration and last three to four hours”.

GHB, solely responsible?

This substance is not the only one used in cases of chemical submissions. Laurence Lalanne specifies that other drugs can have similar effects on the body. Like benzodiazepines, which are anxiolytics. In this category, we find products such as Lexomil, Valium or Xanax, which are much easier to find in pharmacies than GHB.

There is a blur around GHB that makes an accurate diagnosis difficult. “Often GHB is combined with alcohol which has the same effects on memory and attention. It is this black hole, the absence of memory, which can evoke GHB intoxication. But heavy drinking can have the same effects,” she says.

A fleeting presence in the blood

Elisa, 19, could not prove that she had ingested an anesthetic substance. However, she is convinced that someone slipped something in her drink during a nightclub outing. After a black hole of several hours and unusual vomiting, the young woman doubts that the amount of alcohol drunk that evening could have had such an effect. “I know myself very well and my friends too: I have never been in such a state”, she says. Suddenly, she has chills, then hot flashes, has trouble speaking and forgets everything. She later learns that she kissed this boy who had offered her drinks at the bar, then had insisted at length to take her home. A few days after the events, she goes to the police station and talks about this black hole to the police. But without proof, it is impossible to receive his complaint.

GHB disappears from the blood in less than eight hours and from the urine in twelve hours: if a test is not carried out directly, the chances that any substance has left the body are high. A parameter that complicates the diagnosis and affects the victims. Elisa is therefore impatiently awaiting surveillance videos from the establishment, which has experienced several similar cases lately, in the hope of seeing more clearly about this traumatic episode. "Toxicological analyzes can provide answers in case of doubt", advises Laurence Lalanne. If the deadline for carrying out blood and urine tests in the laboratory is exceeded, it is necessary to turn to forensic institutes specialized in toxicology to have a few strands of hair analyzed. These keep traces of GHB for six to eight weeks and can determine whether a person has indeed been drugged without their knowledge.