Who We Are - Overview

14 February 2001
Club Drugs Present in 50 Deaths
Community Recommends Strategies to Fight Growing Problem

SAN DIEGO, CA – Kenneth Shortridge learned his 27 year-old son was using drugs. But he found out too late. Caleb was already dead.

“It was awful,” said Shortridge, remembering the April 1997 hospital call telling him his son “did not make it.” Caleb died of a GHB overdose.

“I did not know he was doing drugs,” said Shortridge, who had never heard of GHB.

GHB or gamma hydroxybutyrate is a stimulant and central nervous system depressant that is snorted, consumed orally in liquid form, smoked or mixed into drinks. GHB is the rage at many clubs, gyms, “rave,” “circuit,” and even home parties. After taking GHB, a person can pass out in 15 minutes and fall into a coma within half an hour. Other side effects include liver failure, vomiting, tremors, amnesia, hallucinations, convulsions and fatal respiratory problems.

GHB has joined Ketamine, Rohypnol, LSD, and Ecstasy as a popular substance of abuse. Together these dangerous drugs, collectively known as Club Drugs, are sweeping the nation as the newest high, and San Diego County is no exception.

People think these so-called “Fun” or “Love” Drugs are harmless. They are wrong.

“My son is dead,” added Shortridge, who on Valentine’s Day joined dozens of public health officials, law enforcement and community representatives at a cemetery to send the message that Club Drugs can produce a range of unwanted harmful effects, including death. When used with alcohol, these substances can be even more harmful.

In the last two years, 50 people in San Diego County had Club Drugs present in their bodies at the time of death. Their ages ranged from 14 to 70 years of age, the majority of them being between the ages of 30 and 50.

“People don’t know what they are taking and those who do think nothing bad is going to happen to them, that they are invincible,” said Dr. Charles Simmons, Director of the Emergency Department at Scripps Mercy Hospital. He knows. He deals with emergency room cases and has seen a rise in Club Drug overdoses in the last few years. Emergency room doctors across the country are reporting the same trend.

“The perception is that these drugs are safe. People don’t really understand that these drugs are dangerous,” added Simmons.

In the last few years, 1,100 cases of Ecstasy overdoses have been reported nationwide. The Drug Enforcement Administration cites 3,500 cases of GHB abuse, overdose, possession and trafficking since 1993. The DEA also reported 32 GHB related deaths since 1995 and 22 sexual assaults since 1996 with GHB used as the sedative.

The availability and popularity of Club Drugs is on the rise by as much as 80 percent over previous years.

During the year 2000, the U.S. Customs seized four million Ecstasy pills coming to America from Western Europe, a tenfold increase from 1997. Seizures of Ketamine, an opiate-like anesthetic easily obtained in Mexico, have exploded at the San Ysidro border crossing. From October of 1999 to January of 2000, customs agents made 43 arrests and seized 8,800 mililiters of the drug. Comparatively, only 16 people were arrested for Keatmine smuggling in all of 1998.

Public health officials are convinced the popularity and increased use of Club Drugs is due to the fact that the dangers of these drugs are not fully appreciated, much the same way it happened in the ‘70s and early ‘80s with cocaine. By the time the full dangers of cocaine were known, it was too late. People had gotten into serious problems with the drug.

“People are only hearing about the pleasurable effects,” said Lorenzo Higley, prevention expert with Communities Against Substance Abuse. “Kids and parents should know Club Drugs are not safe. They are not ‘love’ or ‘feel-good’ drugs. People are dying.”

At the news event, participants made five recommendations they believe will help combat the problem of Club Drugs:

	Prosecute organizers of Rave, Circuit and Home parties for providing a location where illicit drug activity takes place.
	Seek increased law enforcement at Rave, Circuit and Home Parties and Clubs where drug activity takes place.
	Request hospitals, clinics, and EMS responders to gather information on the number of cases related to Club Drugs.
	Encourage local news media to increase coverage of Club Drugs and to inquire more about them while covering the news.
	Responsible Beverage Service training includes Club Drugs component.

“Right now, we don’t have a good system to collect emergency department data about the use of Club Drugs. This information, if gathered countywide, would be a valuable indicator of the harmful effects of drug use and the population at risk. We need to create an effective emergency department data reporting system for San Diego County, ” said Beth Sise, Community Outreach Coordinator for Scripps Mercy Hospital’s Trauma Service. “With this system, we can discover emerging trends and take timely action.”

Marian Novak, from the Responsible Hospitality Coalition, said her organization will include a Club Drug component in all Responsible Beverage Service trainings in San Diego County.

“Servers and bar tenders need to know what to look for to prevent any tragedies,” said Novak. “They need to know what the drugs look like, how they are being carried and what symptoms to look for.”

Kenneth Shortridge wished he could have had this information before it was too late. Even after his son’s death, he and his wife searched the Internet looking for information on GHB only to discover that most of the web sites do nothing more than promote the drug.

“I was very upset,” said Shortridge, who’s now established his own web site, www.ashesonthesea.com/ghb, and is in the process of establishing his own non-profit organization to launch a fight against the drug.

“Parents must step up to the plate and accept responsibility for teaching their children about the dangers of Club Drugs,” said the father, who was accompanied by his 17 year-old daughter. “If we don’t, the fascination with Club Drugs will continue and people will keep dying.”