It gives me particular pleasure to present with this publication the results of
the risk assessment undertaken by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs
and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) on the substance gamma-hydroxybutyric
acid (GHB). The risk assessment was carried out under the terms of a joint
action adopted on 16 June 1997 by the Council of the European Union (1)
and is the fourth such exercise undertaken to date by the EMCDDA (2).

GHB has been used experimentally in human medicine for 30 years, but
since the mid-1990s has been surfacing as a recreational drug. Some
EU countries have reported concern over GHB’s surreptitious use in sexual
assaults.

Information on the patterns of use and implications for illegal drugs-trafficking
networks were collected through the EMCDDA’s early warning system via the
European network of national focal points and Europol’s national units. On
the basis of the findings, the Horizontal working party on drugs of the
European Council requested a risk-assessment procedure to be carried out
which reviewed the pharmacotoxicological data on GHB and assessed the
public health risks and the available sociological and criminological evidence.
The resulting ‘Report on the risk assessment of GHB’ was presented to
the Council in March 2001. On the basis of the report, the Council requested
the EMCDDA and Europol to ‘actively’ monitor GHB until the end of 2001
— its consumption, trafficking and the public health-related problems linked
to it as well as its clinical effects, prevalence and patterns of use, seizures, the
role of organised crime in production, diversion and trafficking and the role
of the Internet in marketing the drug for non-medical use.

I would like to thank all of those who participated in the risk-assessment
process for the high-quality work carried out. I trust that the results presented
here will make a significant contribution to the knowledge pool on GHB
and that they prove to be a valuable resource to politicians responsible for
the final decision on control and prevention measures.

Georges Estievenart
Executive Director, EMCDDA

(1) Joint action concerning the ‘information exchange, risk assessment and the control of new
synthetic drugs’ (OJ L 167, 25.6.1997). A joint action is a decision adopted unanimously by
the EU Member States within the framework of the third pillar of the Treaty on European
Union (cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs). Synthetic drugs are psychoactive
substances produced in laboratories and not derived from natural products. They
include MDMA (ecstasy), other amphetamines and LSD.

(2) The three previous risk-assessment exercises concerned the substances N-methyl-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-
5-yl)-2-butanamine (MBDB), 4-methylthioamphetamine (4-MTA) and ketamine.
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