BAN SOUGHT ON DESIGNER DRUG : POLICE PANEL TO CALL FOR LEGISLATION, ORDERS EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Just days after five Hollywood nightclub patrons lost consciousness after taking the designer drug GHB, the Los Angeles Police Commission voted Tuesday to seek state legislation to outlaw the drug.

The commission also directed LAPD Narcotics Division officers to come up with a public education campaign warning of the danger of the depressant, which detectives said has become a trendy staple of ``rave'' parties in Hollywood and the west San Fernando Valley.

The commission took the action after hearing emotional testimony from Ruben Farias, whose 17-year-old niece died Aug. 4 after unknowingly ingesting the drug, which was placed in her glass of soda at a party in Texas.

Farias said at least three people have died nationwide after taking the drug, which is made from mixing a readily available degreaser and lye.

``This drug should not be out there, because it can affect a lot of people,'' Farias told the commission. ``Sorry to say, this (death) is going to happen again. It's going to take someone else's life.''

A depressant passed around at parties in liquid form, gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB) has earned the street name ``great bodily harm'' but has still become increasingly popular, owing in part to the widespread dissemination of its recipe on the Internet, according to LAPD Detective Trinka Porrata.

``The kids will openly tell you it's cool because there's nothing the police can do about it,'' Porrata said before the commission voted to seek state legislation that would make possession of GHB a felony.

State Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, has agreed to carry the legislation, Porrata said.

Porrata told the Police Commission that the drug is often mixed in bathtubs, where dosage levels cannot be controlled, and it is often used at parties in a dangerous mixture with alcohol and other drugs.

The drug looks like water, tastes salty, and is often carried around in sports bottles. It has been used in Europe as an anesthetic and by bodybuilders in this country but it has no medical use in the United States, Porrata said.

She said that the incident that caused five people to lose consciousness Sunday at the Hollywood Grand nightclub is not isolated.

In June, four males between the age of 16 and 20 were found unconscious and two were in respiratory arrest requiring resuscitation by paramedics. The four included residents of Woodland Hills, Westlake Village and Agoura as well as the son of a Los Angeles Police Department officer.

``GHB was allegedly involved in the drug abuse cycles of both Billy Idol and River Phoenix, both of whom reportedly experienced seizures,'' according to the LAPD report submitted to the commission.

Porrata also said there is a case in court in Torrance in which a man is accused of using GHB as a date-rape drug, by causing a woman to lapse into unconsciousness.

The Los Angeles Poison Control Center averaged nine calls on GHB a month in the first six months of this year but had 27 contacts on the drug in July, according to a report submitted by Berg of the Narcotics Division.

Currently, the only way police officers can make an arrest involving the drug is if it is transported across state lines. Officers recently arrested suspects for attempting to ship two gallons of the drug to Seattle from Los Angeles International Airport.