Gallons of ‘coma in a bottle’ found headed to Florida, officials say. What is it?

Julia Marnin
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Two shipments containing 6 gallons of liquid informally known as “coma in a bottle” were stopped from heading to Florida, according to officials.

The jugs with gamma butyrolactone (GBL) — which can act as a substitute for a depressant used as a date-rape drug — were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Philadelphia on April 22, according to an April 26 news release.

The shipments of the chemical, also known as “liquid ecstasy,” were meant to arrive at an address in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, officials said. The packages were shipped from France.

No one had been arrested in connection with the shipments as of April 27, according to officials.

In a statement, Rene Ortega, the CBP’s acting area port director for Philadelphia, said the agency will continue searching “suspect” international packages and will seize dangerous products.

The body can naturally convert GBL into substance used as date-rape drug

The chemical found in the two shipments can work as an industrial solvent meant for stripping away paint and rust, according to officials.

However, GBL is similar to gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) — a chemical that’s been used as a date-rape drug — and can be used as a substitute for it, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In the 1990s, GHB’s popularity among teenagers and young adults rose, especially at dance clubs, and it started to gain “notoriety as a date rape drug,” the DEA says.

If a person consumes GBL, or “coma in a bottle,” the body can naturally convert it into GHB due to both substances’ “similar pharmacological effects,” the DEA says.

Although a person can legally buy GBL as an industrial solvent, it’s also illicitly sold as bodybuilder supplements, for weight loss, reversing baldness and more, according to the DEA.

When consumed, its effects are similar to GHB and can last about three to six hours, the DEA says.

According to the agency, people who have consumed GBL may experience effects similar to these side effects of GHB between 15 to 30 minutes later:

  • Euphoria

  • Confusion

  • Trouble with memory

  • Drowsiness

  • Lower levels of anxiety

  • Hallucinations

  • Aggressiveness

The DEA says some more serious potential side effects are:

  • Unconsciousness

  • Nausea and vomiting

  • Seizures

  • Coma

  • Slower heart rate and breathing

  • Low body temperature

  • Death

‘Vampire’ straw found hidden in traveler’s backpack at Boston airport, cops say

Millions of fentanyl pills stashed in shipment of green beans in CA, border agents say

‘Decorative stones’ were made of plaster, feds say. They hid 256 pounds of cocaine

Advertisement