Three people were rushed to Lions Gate Hospital Saturday night when they went into medical distress after taking the illegal party drug GHB before heading out to a North Vancouver bar.
Emergency help was called around 11 p.m. Saturday after bar staff found a woman collapsed in a bathroom in respiratory distress.
By the time ambulance crews arrived, another woman and a man who had also taken the drug were showing signs of being in medical trouble as well.
All three were rushed to hospital where they received emergency medical treatment including ventilation to help them breathe, said Cpl. Richard De Jong, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
“The doctors said it was quite serious,” said De Jong.
All three — a 21-year-old West Vancouver woman, a 30-year-old North Vancouver woman and a 23-year-old Abbotsford man — were kept overnight for observation and released the next morning.
De Jong said it appears the trio took the drug before they went out.
GHB is an illegal recreational drug that first gained notoriety as a “date rape” drug. At higher doses, the drug can cause nausea, dizziness, unconsciousness and amnesia along with depressed blood pressure and slowed breathing.
In smaller doses, the drug is said to bring on euphoria and lowering of inhibitions, similar to alcohol. Effects can last from 1.5 to three hours, with the drug taking about 12 hours to completely clear a person’s system.
But as with any illicit drug, it is often difficult to know how much of the drug will have what effect on an individual, said De Jong.
The three people taken to hospital told police they took one capful of the drug. But “there’s some indication one or two of them may have taken more,” said De Jong.
He added that taking the drug in combination with alcohol can further depress the body’s heart rate and respiratory system and be potentially very dangerous.
“You can get as low as four to six breaths a minute,” he said.
As well as the immediate medical dangers, there is also the risk of someone being robbed or sexually assaulted while they are unconscious, he said.
De Jong said he’s not aware of other drug overdoses from GHB on the North Shore, but added three cases in one night is unusual.
