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
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“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)