Students who went to the French ski resort of Risoul these past few weeks, claim they have been drugged en masse. GHB could possibly play a role. The French police is now investigating. What kind of drug is GHB?

What exactly happened in Risoul?

Several students from Nijmegen who went on a skiing vacation to the French Risoul last week became unwell. They were taken away by ambulance, one of them is still in the hospital. Students from Utrecht aborted their trip to the same town for similar reasons.

The incidents took place in the local bar La Grotte du Yeti. Because there were signs in the town saying ‘Stop GHB’, students expect drugs is often slipped into drinks here. Members of the student association Ovum Novum were warned by their president beforehand to pay attention to their drinks when going out.

The students who became unwell were not examined to check for drug poisoning. Because of that, it is uncertain whether GHB was actually the culprit. The police did however start an investigation, partly based on CCTV footage.

What is GHB?

GHB, which is also known as gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, is a drug with a high risk of addiction, is said on the website of the Trimbo Institute. In 2020, 1,9 percent of the Dutch population older than 18 years indicated they have used GHB before.

The liquid drug is a little syrupier than water and is often sold in small bottle or 5ml-vials, says Steven Biemans of Drugsinfo.nl, an information for drugs by the Trimbos Institute. ‘For recreational use, it’s not an expensive drug,’ he says.

GHB has a distinct salty taste. Because of this, you usually taste it when someone slipped some into your drink. ‘But when someone is drinking sweet drinks, and has already consumed a lot of alcohol, there is a chance you no longer taste the saltiness,’ Biemans explains.

Is GHB a dangerous drug?

Just like alcohol or soporifics and tranquillisers, GHB belongs to the so-called downers, which causes users’ blood pressure to drop and heartbeat and breathing to slow down. ‘The biggest danger of GHB is that the drug is hard to dose,’ says Biemans. ‘The moment you start to feel the effects and the moment you have taken too much, are very close to each other.’

‘If you are nauseated and fall asleep while laying on your back, you could suffocate in your own vomit’

The result: people using GHB sometimes lose consciousness and slip into a so-called comatose state. ‘That is dangerous,’ says Biemans. ‘If you are nauseated and fall asleep while laying on your back, you could suffocate in your own vomit.’

Sometimes GHB is combined with alcohol: two substances with the same effects, which amplify each other. ‘Both have a damping effect on your heartrate, breathing and blood pressure, which are all vital functions. In other words: combining alcohol and GHB could be fatal.’

Can we assume that the students in Risoul were drugged with GHB?

Biemans emphasizes he has no idea what happened to the Dutch students in Risoul, and that it is up to the French police to investigate further. There are no official figures on how many people in the Netherlands are drugged with GHB.

However, there are signals that drugging happens less often than people might think. ‘We often get calls from people who think there were drugged with GHB. Those people also often drank alcohol. The effects of alcohol are well-known to people. If those effects deviate, they often think something is wrong. But even in small amounts, alcohol might sometimes have strange effects.’

In the conversation employees of the Drugs Infolijn have with people who think they were drugged, it is often the case that nobody came near their drink and that they were not sexually assaulted. ‘They also often don’t know anyone with a motive to drug them.’

‘People who call us often score negative on a drugs test.’ But, Biemans adds, researching people who were drugged with GHB is difficult, because the drug is only detectable in urine for a maximum of twelve hours.

What should you do if you suspect you were drugged?

Aim to prevent it in the first place, Steven Biemans explains. ‘Keep a close eye on your drink and if you suspect something was slipped into your drink, don’t drink it.’

‘Drugs are only detectable in your body for a short period, so collect urine as quickly as possible’

‘If you think you were drugged, inform the people around you. Get medical help or call the Drugs Infolijn. Drugs are only detectable in your body for a short period, so collect urine as quickly as possible. And finally, contact the bar personnel or security of the place where you think you were drink. You can also do that the day after.’