GHB - The Law

The Law

GHB was once legal in the United States. It was sold at health food stores across the country. Numerous cases of illness related to GHB use led the U.S. government to declare it unsafe and illegal, except for approved medical use, in 1990. Nevertheless, use of the drug increased dramatically throughout the decade. Then, in 2000—following reports of thousands of GHB overdoses—a significant drop in GHB use appeared in national statistics. This decrease coincided with President Clinton's signing of the Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 2000.

With a bottle of evidence at his side, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft informs the press about a major crackdown on Internet sales of illegal drugs in 2002. Among those arrested were 115 dealers of the date rape drug GHB. AP/Wide World
With a bottle of evidence at his side, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft informs the press about a major crackdown on Internet sales of illegal drugs in 2002. Among those arrested were 115 dealers of the date rape drug GHB. AP/Wide World Photos.

GHB is now a Schedule I controlled substance. The penalty for manufacturing or distributing GHB includes large fines and a prison term of twenty years or more. Possession of GHB carries a penalty of at least a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison. Repeat offenders typically receive harsher penalties.

GHB is also officially classified as a date-rape drug. The Drug-Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act of 1996 makes it a crime to give an unsuspecting person a drug with the intent of committing violence, including rape. It also imposes penalties of large fines and up to twenty years in prison for importing or distributing more than one gram of these drugs, including GHB.

According to Jodi L. Avergun, chief of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section of the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division, drugs are estimated to be used in as many as 15 to 20 percent of sexual assaults. "With approximately 95,000 sexual assaults on women" in the United States each year, she stated, "it is fair to assume that GHB has been used in thousands of crimes of violence." Avergun testified before the United States Sentencing Commission in 2004, seeking stiffer sentences for GHB sales and use.

In some European countries, GHB remains legal for use as an anesthetic and a treatment for alcohol withdrawal. Data available in 2005 showed that the drug was banned in the United States, Switzerland, and Canada.