Penalties for possessing GHB to be increased

GHB, the club and party drug, is to be reclassified to increase the penalties for its possession to up to five years in prison after Government advisers uncovered a “concerning i ncrease” in the harm it causes.

The date rape drug, used by serial killer Stephen Port to subdue and murder his victims, has been increasingly linked to crimes, violence and mental ill-health, according to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

The ACMD has recommende d it should be upgraded from a Class C to a Class B drug, which increases the penalties for possession from two to five years in jail. Those caught supplying it can be sentenced to up to 14 years in jail.

It puts the drug alongside cannabis, spice and speed, and the advisers urged the Government, in a letter publ i shed yesterday, to take action to disrupt its widespread sale on the internet as a club and party drug.

The recreational club drug, known as liquid ecstasy and typically bought from street dealers or the internet, acts as a sedative, lowering inhibitions and giving users a sense of euphoria, but it can also make them feel sleepy and put them at risk of overdose and death.

Short for gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, its Class C status puts it alongside anabolic steroids and some tranquilisers. Since the ACMD’S last report on the substances in 2003, it said there had been “evidence of a concerning increase in the health and social harms among those who use these drugs”.

It added: “The number of deaths where GHBRS were implicated has also increased s i nce t he last report, although these numbers remain low.”

As well as t hose who knowingly take the drugs, there is “also evidence of harms caused by being unknowingly drugged with these substances”.

Reynhard Sinaga – the UK’S most prolific rapist – was jailed earlier this year for drugging and raping more than 40 men. His trials heard that he laced his victims’ drinks with drugs like GBH to render them unconscious.

Serial killer Port was jailed for life in 2016 for murdering four young men with GHB.

The ACMD has also called for routine GHB testing in unexplained sudden deaths.