Ghb Drug

Four young men were hospitalized Monday after they reported ingesting what they believed was an amino acid that would aid their workout, according to authorities. The substance, known as GHB or gamma-hybroxybutyrate, is typically homemade and illegal in the United States, authorities said, adding that it's often seen on the club circuit where it's used for its effects of euphoria and loss of inhibitions.

It was soap, not dope. That's the verdict from additional testing of the peppermint-scented liquid that got punk rocker Don Bolles arrested on drug charges this month. Bolles, 50, the legendary drummer for the Germs, spent three days in jail after Newport Beach police said they found GHB, the date-rape drug, inside a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap in Bolles' 1968 Dodge van. Police ran a field test on the yellowish goop after stopping Bolles for a broken taillight on April 4.

A 25-year-old Simi Valley man was arrested on suspicion of making a half-gallon batch of a date rape drug in a home lab, police said Friday. Michael J. Calistro was taken into custody Thursday at his home in the 3800 block of Delano Street after officers went there with a search warrant to look for evidence of marijuana sales, Simi Valley Det. Fred James said.

Testimony concluded Tuesday in the trial of accused date-rapist Andrew Luster after defense attorneys called their fourth and final witness -- an oil-field worker who testified that a woman Luster allegedly drugged and raped appeared sober when he saw her. The tall, slender blond woman was standing outside Luster's beach house with two men at about 2 a.m. when field worker Richard White saw her while checking gauges on oil properties near Mussel Shoals more than two years ago, White testified.

After five days of deliberations, a Los Angeles jury Thursday convicted two men of drugging and sexually assaulting a series of women in what local authorities described as the largest case of "date rape" drug use in California. The men were alleged to have assaulted the women over two years at a Lawndale warehouse that had been converted into a home and office by one of the defendants.

On the night his life changed forever, Andrew Luster and a friend drove north to a bar in Santa Barbara called O'Malley's. Especially on weekends, the bars and clubs along State Street, where O'Malley's is located, overflow with tourists and with students from UC Santa Barbara, many of whom fully expect, as a pretty blond 21-year-old named Carey did on that warm Friday night in July 2000, to "get messed up." Until that night, Luster's famous heritage had served him well.

Newly released toxicology findings indicate that Tyisha Miller was under the influence of GHB, an illegal drug that can induce semiconsciousness and vomiting--the type of symptoms she was said to be exhibiting before she was shot and killed by four Riverside police officers in December 1998. Miller, 19, was slain by officers who said they found her unresponsive in her parked vehicle with a gun in her lap.

Even now, after all they have heard and seen, the memories of what happened to them remain elusive. And merciful or not, the fact that they cannot remember how they were drugged, then raped, sometimes repeatedly, does little to ease the humiliation. So on Tuesday, when it came time for their attackers to be sentenced, the women, one by one, told a Los Angeles courtroom how what Steven Michael Hagemann and Danny Richard Bohannon did to them had forever changed their lives.

The incident, like so many of these things, surfaced only later, and in a gossip column at that: Billy Idol, the bad-boy rocker, had collapsed in convulsions outside the trendy club Tatou and had to be rushed to the hospital with two members of his entourage. His publicist quickly labeled the incident exhaustion.

Seven more women have joined three alleged rape victims in accusing millionaire date-rape suspect Andrew Luster of drugging them at bars and parties, and, in one case, at a Las Vegas strip club. Ventura County prosecutors want to call the additional women as witnesses when testimony in Luster's trial begins next week to show the 38-year-old bachelor's "penchant for preying upon incapacitated women." But defense attorneys contend the women's statements are unreliable and should be excluded.

Seven more women have joined three alleged rape victims in accusing millionaire date-rape suspect Andrew Luster of drugging them at bars and parties, and, in one case, at a Las Vegas strip club. Ventura County prosecutors want to call the additional women as witnesses when testimony in Luster's trial begins next week to show the 38-year-old bachelor's "penchant for preying upon incapacitated women." But defense attorneys contend the women's statements are unreliable and should be excluded.

On the eve of trial, attorneys for millionaire date-rape suspect Andrew Luster urged a judge Monday to delay jury selection and allow them additional time to mount a defense. But Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley denied the request, saying that defense lawyers have had months to prepare. He intends to start jury selection this morning. Luster's lawyers have complained for months that prosecutors are concealing evidence while forcing them to trial.

On the night his life changed forever, Andrew Luster and a friend drove north to a bar in Santa Barbara called O'Malley's. Especially on weekends, the bars and clubs along State Street, where O'Malley's is located, overflow with tourists and with students from UC Santa Barbara, many of whom fully expect, as a pretty blond 21-year-old named Carey did on that warm Friday night in July 2000, to "get messed up." Until that night, Luster's famous heritage had served him well.

An Anaheim man will be arraigned Monday on drug possession charges stemming from a bust detectives believe may be one of the state's largest seizures of GHB, known as the "date-rape" drug or "liquid ecstasy," authorities said Saturday. Jorge Hodjers, 46, has been held on $100,000 bail at Orange County Jail since his arrest Thursday. He has been charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine.

For months, lawyers for date-rape suspect Andrew Luster have accused Ventura County prosecutors of hiding evidence that could exonerate their wealthy client, and demanded more time to build their case before trial. But time has run out. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley this week issued a blunt ruling, denying a defense request to postpone the trial and warning lawyers they will be held in contempt if they fail to show up for jury selection on Dec. 3.

Eight suspects were arrested and substantial quantities of illicit drugs were seized in a series of raids on a Los Angeles-area ring specializing in the sale and distribution of the "date rape" drug known as GHB, a law enforcement task force said Thursday.

In a clampdown on Internet drug dealers, federal, state and local authorities said Wednesday they have made arrests and conducted searches in dozens of U.S. cities where traffickers have used computers to sell the "date rape" drug GHB. Investigators conducted more than 150 searches and made a number of arrests in a law enforcement sweep in more than 70 U.S. cities, marking the first probe of its kind involving the Internet and GHB, a federal law enforcement official said.

A drug implicated in date rapes and nightclub deaths won federal approval Wednesday for treating a rare type of sleeping disorder, under special restrictions aimed at stopping its diversion to nonmedical uses. GHB, or gamma hydroxybutyrate, has an unusual four-decade history of use as an anesthetic, a body-building supplement and a party drug popular on the rave scene.