Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assaults involving GHB and GBL in Europe – recent evidence and a need for better monitoring.

In recent years, there have been increasing concerns over the use of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and its precursor, gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) to facilitate sexual assaults due to its rapid metabolism in the body, quick onset of effects (sedation, anterograde amnesia or complete loss of consciousness), colourless and odourless nature, and the difficulty to detect it in biological samples. Since the extent of GHB and its precursors involvement in DFSA remains unclear, the primary objective of this paper was to conduct a literature review of recently published papers on this subject [MF1] and offer some insights to improve the monitoring of this issues and enhance our preparedness in a situation where involvement of GHB and GBL in DFSA might become more widespread.