Drug info - Is GBL still legal and available in Europe??and why??

[cosmicruler]

Just curious as to how and why GBL is legal/available in Britain and Europe when GHB is ILLEGAL....

it makes NO sense to me....
do you people have no analogue laws or something????

[MrG]

No, it's just that, for the time being at least, GBL is recognised as having many many genuine industrial uses and simply banning anything that might even give one a spinny head has not been Europe's m.o.

Although things may well change over the next year or two, the UK is certainly looking at its options due to the usual ignorant lazy-ass journalist scumbags who like to make mountains out of molehills because they are too thick to actually understand the facts (seriously, I fucking dare any journo to have the balls to write purely objectively about substance use and/or abuse for one year, just one year!).

People (stoopid people) get high on huffing petrol, you think they are ever going to ban that? No.

Think about it, the more substances they ban, the wider the scope of the law to be able to nick you for simply having it register in your body e.g. Technically every person in Amerikkka could, theoretically, be busted for having GHB in their body.

Over time the clever "underground" (what, are they miners or something?) chemists will usually figure out a way to play lego with molecules in order to produce whatever the powers that be have tried to take away.

The EU, thankfully, is pretty level-headed about this fact and realise that simply banning every compound in universe is a pretty daft way to deal with a problem. Lets hope this more sensible attitude continues.

But hey, the prohibitionists usually do get their way in the end, except with alchohol because there was simply too great a force pushing back against them.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good Info

[cosmicruler]

Thanks for your answer Mr G....But in SWIMs country it has successfully been made illegal (along with 1,4-B) even though it is still used widely in plastics manufacturing.
SWIM doesnt think that it is illegal in SWIMs country to have drugs in SWIMs system(unless operating a motor vehicle) only to be in possession of, manufacturing or supplying.

Are there analogue laws in Britain??
SWIM just finds it really interesting and somewhat bizzarre that different countrys can have such different laws in regards to certain substances etc....

[0utrider]

AFASWIMK it wont be illegal, because it is used in many branches of industries, it is essential for many companies in many aspects. (GBL). it wont be made illegal, because it would weaken many influential industries. But GHB is illegal, because it doesnt work in that way but its easy to sell/trade as a drug and not necessary otherwise.

maybe it will become a (even more) controlled substance, but even then it would be relatively easy to get a hold of it, since its usage is very common in many industrial branches

[Pondlife]

What might happen is that it might only be available in large quantities, as most legitimate uses will use lots of it, and a small number of large shipments is easy to police. This would allow it to still be used for industrial processes that use it by the ton, while stopping the half-litre shipments to people wanting to "clean their alloys".

Here's what happened in the US. They only allow shipments over 4,000 Kg, and I bet they check out those shipments pretty carefully.

Establishment of a Threshold for Gamma-Butyrolactone

AGENCY: Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Justice.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: On October 24, 2001, DEA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled "Establishment of a Threshold for Gamma- Butyrolactone'' (66 FR 53746) that proposed a zero kilogram threshold and the exemption of transactions of 16,000 kilograms (net weight) or more in a single container. This final rule establishes a zero kilogram threshold for domestic, export, and import transactions of gamma- butyrolactone (GBL) and excludes from the definition of a "regulated transaction'' all transactions of 4,000 kilograms (net weight) or more in a single container. The DEA is reducing the weight required for exclusion from what was proposed in response to a comment that showed that transactions of 4,000 kilograms or more in a single container are not likely to be diverted.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This final rule is effective October 10, 2003.

As MrG says, let's hope that they don't. But don't think that the fact that it's used as an industrial chemical means that it can't be controlled.

[0utrider]

yeah but i guess it would still be easy available to the blackmarket, even though its a loss since the prices would rise & the quality become bad maybe.

but in europe it is still available for graffiti removal etc.

[cosmicruler]

Man i wish SWIM could do some graffiti removal.........

It is still available in SWICR country, just the price is incredibally high and is only sold on the 'blackmarket' for recreational users.....

[ThirdEyeFloond]

In SWIMs country (within EU) both GHB and GBL are scheduled, only a couple of companies have import license for GBL for industrial purposes. GBL is found in some cleaning products here although in dillluted form and need to be seperated before reacting it to GHB, not an impossible task SWIMs neighbour heard the willows whisper but no reason to do it execpt for the experiement as most of SWIMs car owning friends seem to have no problem getting their wheels nice and shiny with imported GBL from other european countries, they say customs rarely if ever is an issue.

[kimotag]

As forum users point out, gbl has many legitimate uses and there are lots of companies that would protest its banning just because a small proportion of the public are using it recreationaly. Swim is sure it will be more regulated in the future, perhaps it will only be available on licence, in large volumes! Trouble is, this only puts illicit distribution into the hands of dealers who will dilute and adulterate it, leading to more deaths as people wont know what dose to take! Education , not prohibition!