GHB-involved crimes among intoxicated patients

Máté Kapitány-Fövény; Gábor Zacher; János Posta; Zsolt Demetrovics

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.02.028

GHB-involved crimes among intoxicated patients

Forensic Sci Int. 2017 Jun:275:23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.02.028. Epub 2017 Mar 10.

Authors

Máté Kapitány-Fövény¹, Gábor Zacher², János Posta³, Zsolt Demetrovics⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary; Faculty of Health Sciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; Nyírő Gyula Hospital National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictology, Drug Outpatient and Prevention Centre, Budapest, Hungary. Electronic address: kapitanymate@vipmail.hu.
² Military Hospital State Health Centre, Emergency Ward, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Debrecen, Hungary.
⁴ Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

PMID: 28288338
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.02.028

Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, the involvement of GHB in drug facilitated sexual assaults has been one of the most frequently studied aspects of GHB in both clinical and non-clinical settings. GHB-involved acquisitory crimes, however, can be mentioned as understudied research topics, as well as the poisoning severity properties of GHB.

Measures: The medical reports of Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital Clinic and Casualty Centre's 408 GHB-intoxication cases (352 patients) were reviewed and registered. Analyzed data consisted of epicrisis, serum and urine concentration of various substances (including GHB), scores of Glasgow Coma Scale and Poisoning Severity Score.

Results: Majority of the patients were males, in their twenties. GHB was detected in 34.1% and it was solely consumed in 27.7% of all the cases. Ethanol was found to be the most frequently co-ingested substance. A higher rate of severe poisonings was observed among males. We found significant difference in the frequency of enduring sexual assaults and acquisitory crimes between intentional and unintentional GHB intake cases. Among unintentional GHB intake cases, 6.5% endured GHB-involved sexual assaults, whereas 21.7% endured an acquisitory crime. Among recurrent GHB intoxication cases generated by the same patients, voluntary and sole GHB consumptions were more frequently observed, however, enduring any crime was less characteristic.

Discussion: Our results regarding demographic and substance use characteristics and the frequency of GHB-facilitated sexual assaults are in line with former findings. Enduring acquisitory crimes due to unintentional GHB intake was found to be more inherent than enduring sexual assaults. Authors emphasise that the victims of these acquisitory crimes were typically males.

Conclusion: GHB's role in drug facilitated acquisitory crimes seems to be significant, although the decrease in GHB's popularity is observed among intoxicated patients as well. The need for further research on GHB's impact on cognitive impairment and on sexual correlates of intentional GHB use is addressed by the authors.

Keywords: Acquisitory crime; Gamma-hydroxybutyrate; Sexual assault; Toxicology.

MeSH terms

Adult
Crime / statistics & numerical data*
Crime Victims / statistics & numerical data
Female
Glasgow Coma Scale
Humans
Hungary / epidemiology
Male
Severity of Illness Index
Sex Offenses / statistics & numerical data
Sodium Oxybate / adverse effects*
Sodium Oxybate / analysis
Sodium Oxybate / poisoning
Substance-Related Disorders / epidemiology

Substances

Sodium Oxybate