69 Poisonings Linked to ‘Date Rape Drug’

An illegal “date rape drug” that killed a Texas teenager and sent a Georgia woman into a coma is being blamed for 69 cases of poisoning in New York and Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Many of those people were hospitalized in intensive care. The drug, gamma hydroxy butyrate, or GHB, is an odorless and tasteless depressant that can cause euphoria, but in higher doses, it can lead to breathing problems, seizures, coma and death. There’s no antidote for an overdose, the Atlanta-based health agency said. The drug, which can be made as a liquid or powder, is called a “date rape drug” because it is sometimes used to render women helpless against sexual advances, the CDC said.