Sellers of illegal drugs like GHB are finding a brand-new marketplace on the street corners of the information superhighway.

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Webvan, Kozmo, Peapod -- revolution business concepts a couple of years ago, these Internet delivery services disappeared when the economy took a nose dive. But on 'CyberCrime' this week we'll expose one segment of the online delivery industry that is still booming despite the hard economic times: drug dealing.

"The majority [of users] seem to be getting it from the Internet," retired narcotics detective Trinka Porrata told "CyberCrime" about gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), also known as the date-rape drug.

GHB is one of the most popular drugs available on the Web, according to Porrata, who now works as a drug consultant with Project GHB, a program aimed at raising awareness of GHB addiction and helping GHB addicts recover. GHB, which is colorless, odorless, and almost tasteless, was given its nickname because it is sometimes slipped into an unsuspecting woman's drink, causing several hours of unconsciousness. It disappears from the body within 12 hours and leaves the victim with little or no memory of what happened, making it an ideal drug for would-be rapists.

But GHB is much more popular among recreational users, Porrata said.

"It is far more widespread than anyone wants to believe," she said. "Make no mistake, the use of it for drug-facilitated sexual assault is far greater than really captured by any statistics, but that isn't the bulk of its use... Most of the addicts we deal with are not partygoers, but are gym-goers who were introduced to it as a sleep or workout aid."

In fact, GHB first came to prominence in the 1980s when bodybuilders began using the chemical to stimulate muscle growth and aid sleep. For years, the drug was widely available in health food stores until doctors became aware that it was unsafe.

"GHB is very, very addictive," according to Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in Concord, California. "[Users] progressively lose control over their use. They use it when they shouldn't, they use it in the wrong amounts," Stalcup said. They exhibit "all the signs that they are having trouble controlling use, which is the centerpiece of addiction."

The drug can also be deadly, Stalcup said. "People die because of respiratory depression -- they stop breathing. Some people have died... in the course of GHB-induced convulsions," he said.

And some users fall into depressive states so severe they do not respond to medical treatments. Some become suicidal and kill themselves.

As a result of these dangers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the over-the-counter sale of GHB in 1990, making its use illicit except under strict guidelines and when monitored by a doctor. And in February 2000, President Clinton reclassified GHB as a Schedule I drug having no medical use, and possession of GHB became a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

But the change in the law has done little to stem the drug's sale, especially online.

A brief Web search for the term "GHB" yields several websites that offer GHB kits for purchase. The kits usually include GHB precursors like 1,4-butanediol or gamma butyrolactone (GBL), along with sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. And other sites like ghbinfo.org provide recipes for turning the kits' ingredients into GHB.

"The process is quite simple, and does not require complex laboratory equipment," the Drug Enforcement Agency's 2000 Drug Intelligence Brief reported. The report notes that kits sell for anywhere from $48 to $200.

Those kits became extremely popular. In September 1998, shortly before being arrested, Jose Perez-Menchaca bragged to an undercover FDA agent that he had netted approximately $300,000 selling GHB kits over the Internet. In March 1999, Florida authorities arrested three 20-year-old men, two of them students at Florida State University, also for allegedly using the Internet to sell GHB kits. One of the men was captured while attempting to mail 58 boxes containing 211 kits. And earlier this year, two Arkansas brothers plead guilty in a New Jersey court to making approximately $200,000 selling GHB kits online.

"The [kits] are getting a little more difficult to find for a newcomer," Porrata said about these recent enforcement efforts. So, online drug dealers are now getting "sneakier about it." Many of them don't even bother offering the kits any longer, but simply sell GHB analogs -- chemicals like GBL and 1,4-butanediol that are converted by the body into GHB when consumed. The analogs are often legal because they can also be used as industrial cleaners and solvents, and, as a result, many websites sell the chemicals "disguised as a weight belt or ink jet cartridge cleaner," according to Porrata.

"No manufacturing is involved, so it's less serious if you're caught and arrested," Porrata said. "And not all [states] have the analogs covered properly... If I find the website located in a state where it isn't covered, local cops might not be able to do much about it."

GHB isn't the only illicit drug showing up on the street corners of the information superhighway. To find out what else you can score online, take a look at Part 2 of our story.

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