HOSPITALS RELEASE YOUNG PARTYGOERS WHO INGESTED LYE : 4 DRANK FROM JUG OF STEROID, POLICE SAY.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

Four people injured early Thursday after they drank lye during an all-night ``rave'' party have been released from hospitals, officials said.

The four had passed out after drinking from a gallon milk jug containing the popular drug GHB as well as a high concentration of lye - which is used in the illegal manufacture of the drug, Los Angeles police said.

Two of the partygoers were released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Thursday night and a third was released Friday, a spokesman said.

A fourth youth taken to Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Hollywood was released Thursday, a spokeswoman said.

Police declined to release the names of the teens and young adults - a 20-year-old from Agoura, a 19-year-old from Woodland Hills, a 16-year-old from Ventura County, and a Berkeley teen, saying they had not yet been interviewed.

The youngsters were found passed out in front of a pizza restaurant in Hollywood.

GHB, known as G on the street, is a steroid that was used experimentally to treat insomnia but was outlawed in 1990.

An initial test of the solution did not detect GHB, but a more detailed analysis revealed a high level of the drug, said LAPD Detective Trinka Porrata.

Makers of the illegal substance usually mix gamma butyl lactone, a common oil that can be purchased at chemical supply houses, with either lye or sodium hydroxide - the equivalent of drain cleaner - to make the solution, Porrata said.

The dose these four young people took was far more caustic than it was supposed to be, she said. Normal doses have a PH of 8 or 9 and this had a PH of 14.

``They probably thought if a little is good, then a lot must be better,'' she said.

GHB, or gamma hydroxy butyrate, is commonly taken along with some kind of ``uppers'' that keep the user awake, she said.

Police were investigating the case, trying to determine who mixed the caustic solution that was handed out at an all-night gathering, said Detective Mike McDonagh of the LAPD's Hollywood Division.