A new drug known as "liquid ecstasy", which has swept dance clubs in the US, is likely to appear in Ireland shortly, a conference was told yesterday.
The drug, referred to as GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid), is believed to have been responsible for 32 deaths and 3,500 overdoses among young people in the US in the last two years.
When GHB is mixed with alcohol, users can suffer blackouts and remember nothing the next day.
This has resulted in several cases in the US where women were allegedly raped when their drinks were spiked with GHB.
Lieut Bill Davenport, head of special investigations with the San Francisco Police, who have seized large quantities of the drug, said he believed it was now available in Europe and would probably find its way to Ireland.
A Garda spokesman said it did not believe the drug was on the market here at present.
Lieut Davenport was speaking in Inishowen, Co Donegal, at a Garda conference on Controlled Drugs in Rural Areas.
He said the drug came in liquid or powder and produced an "intensified feeling" in the user. It normally took 20 minutes to take effect and lasted for about 3 1/2 hours.
He said based on the US experience the drug tended to be taken by people between 18 and 24 who regularly attended raves. Because of the negative publicity ecstasy had attracted in recent years, some drug users would be willing to switch to a new drug.
The attraction of the drug in the US was that it was soluble and odourless, which made detection difficult.
In the US it cost $10 for a small bottle which could produce about nine doses.
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared GHB illegal in 1990 after 57 cases of illness were ascribed to it.
Among the illnesses reported to the FDA were nausea, vomiting, respiratory problems, seizures and comas.
It was an over-the-counter drug in the US until 1990. Until then it was popular with body-builders because it also acts, if taken over a sustained period, as a growth hormone.
As its popularity increased with body-builders, US doctors examined it further and found it was a powerful neurotransmitter, increasing the dopamine levels in the central nervous system.