History
Synthesis of the chemical GHB was first reported in 1874 by Alexander Zaytsev, but the first major research into its use in humans was conducted in the early 1960s by Dr. Henri Laborit to use in studying the neurotransmitter GABA. It quickly found a wide range of uses due to its minimal side-effects and short duration of action, the only difficulties being the narrow therapeutic dosage range and the dangers presented by its combination with alcohol and other nervous system depressants.
GHB was widely used in France, Italy, and other European countries for several decades as a sleeping agent and an anesthetic in childbirth but problems with its abuse potential and development of newer drugs have led to a decrease in legitimate medical use of GHB in recent times. In the Netherlands, GHB could be bought as aphrodisiac and euphoriant in a smartshop for several years, until several incidents caused it to become regulated. The only common medical applications for GHB today are in the treatment of narcolepsy and more rarely alcoholism. In the typical scenario, GHB has been synthesized from γ-butyrolactone (GBL) by adding sodium hydroxide (lye) in ethanol or water.
A popular children's toy, Bindeez (also known as Aqua Dots, in the United States), produced by Melbourne company Moose, was banned in Australia in early November 2007 when it was discovered that 1,4-butanediol (1,4-B), which is metabolized into GHB, had been substituted for the non-toxic plasticiser 1,5-pentanediol in the bead manufacturing process. Three young children were hospitalized as a result of ingesting a large number of the beads, and the toy was recalled.
Read more about this topic: gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted, but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)