The UK government has been urged to reclassify GHB and GBL as ‘Class A‘ substances following the launch of an online petition.
In the event that these drugs are reclassified, anyone caught with or dealing them will be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for drugs such as crack cocaine, crystal meth, heroin, MDMA, and LSD.
In the petition, it is claimed that these drugs cause more deaths than ecstasy. In addition, the use of GHB & GBL is associated with horrific crimes such as sexual assault, rape and burglary. The overuse of these drugs is also thought to be addictive.
Since these drugs are often easier to obtain than the higher class drugs, many young people take them, which has resulted in many deaths and hospitalizations, and long-term effects on users.
Teenagers and young adults who attend ‘rave’ parties and clubs often use GHB. Several young people have had to receive emergency medical care as a result of GHB’s severe effects, and more users have died from it than from taking Ecstasy.
GHB and alcohol have similar effects in that they both can create euphoric effects at small doses and sedative effects at larger doses. The difference between a dose that leads to desired effects and one that leads to adverse effects can be narrow.
Also known as GBL and GHBRS, GHB is often considered a club drug. All of the drugs were changed from ‘Class C’ to ‘Class B’ in April this year due to their similar psychoactive effects.
Nearly 1,200 signatures had been collected at the time of writing. UK Government and Parliament petitions that reach 10,000 signatures are obligated to be answered by the government. Petitions need 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in Parliament. The petition can be found here.
Photo by Etactics Inc on Unsplash
Zoom Testing is a leading UK drug testing company and a supplier of Drug Test Kits.
This post was originally published in 2014 and has been updated since.
