Clues sought to mystery drink that sickened kids

  Jonathan T. Lovitt

  01/02/1997

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 01A

  (Copyright 1997)

  LOS ANGELES -- Officials are renewing warnings about the risk of designer

  drugs after scores of partyers here collapsed on New Year's Eve.

  Three people are still hospitalized. Police and the Federal Drug Administration

  are testing vials given away at the ``In Seventh Heaven'' dance.

  ``Remember when your mother said don't take anything from a stranger?'' says

  LAPD Sgt. Benny Castro. ``It's just common sense.''

  Officials will test for two street drugs increasingly given to the unsuspecting:

  GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), a ``date rape'' drug made of ingredients from

  health-food stores.

  Ecstasy (MDMA), a synthetic hallucinogen.

  The label on the vials at the concert said ``Cherry Fx'' and had neither of those.

  Fx contains:

  Kava Kava, a mild Fiji narcotic and muscle relaxant.

  Fo Ti extract, a Chinese herb, ``the elixer of life.''

  Gotu Kola extract, an Indonesian stimulant.

  GABA, an amino acid discovered in Berlin in 1883 that stimulates the pituitary

  gland.

  The Fx label warns not to mix with drugs or alcohol.

  Deejays began telling the crowd not to drink from the 12 milliliter test tubes. ``It

  will kill you,'' they shouted over the loudspeakers, says Janeen Kristoff, 20. She

  said the label, which says ``for those who are unafraid,'' seemed harmless.