While doing some online medical research, I accidentally (I swear!) stumbled upon a French “Cyberpharmacie” featuring, among other regular prescription drugs, a brief overview of recreational substances, their use, risk and chemical properties.

Being the curious type, I read along and learnt one particularly interesting fact about GHB that I was totally unaware of. My favorite substance information repository bearing no mention of this fact, I remained dubitative and dug deeper on the net until I eventually found what appears to be a rather reliable confirmation (note on the topic of “reliable internet information source”: there aren’t any. one can rely solely on common sense and gut feeling… but anyway: what’s to be relied on?). A few other searches into the chemicals and body metabolism involved brought a decent level of confirmation to it.

So indeed, believe it or not:
The human body is able to naturally synthesize gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) from its precursor gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) through simple ingestion.

So, if you take in account the fact that GBL is a rather commonly used substance in all kind of solvents and paint remover, you can roughly translate this fact into:
Swallowing a few swigs of certain nail polish removers is akin to taking ghb and will get you seriously high

I know, I know: “doh, like we didn’t know that ever since high school… paint solvents are funny things to breath” and so on…

But let’s precise we are talking about a specific use (ingestion) and a very specific type of solvent (there are tons of other, more harmless, solvents. GBL is usually reserved to commercial applications, in part due to this property) turning into a very serious psychoactive substance widely known for its heavy recreational purposes…

Another important side note is that, in order for it to be effectively synthesized into ghb, the gbl cannot be ingested with any water or water-based drinks… Which is a serious downside given its unbearably bad taste (ever tried to swallow nail polish? I would probably not).

Anyway, just thought this was an interesting piece of informational bio-chemistry. What an endless source of mysteries and wonderment the human body is…

Oh, and remember kids: Winners Don’t Do Drugs (they just sell them)