Published Jan 14, 2017, 5:08pm
The number of deaths rose by 119% in just one year (Picture: Getty Images)

London is being hit by a GHB death epidemic – and postmortem drug screenings aren’t even picking it up.

According to a disturbing new study, the number of people dying after taking GHB in the capital rose by 119% in just a year. In fact, someone was dying from GHB or GBL every 12 days in London in 2015.

GHB, along with mephedrone and crystal meth, is one of the three main drugs associated with chemsex – the practice of men having sex with men under the influence of drugs.

Toxicologists at Imperial College London looked at the number of deaths from the class-C drug in London between 2011 and 2015, noting the increase year-on-year.

They collected data from coroners across the city (apart from west London, where the data wasn’t available), and found the number of deaths had more than doubled in only a year.

Researchers also found that all but one of the 61 people who died from causes related to GHB or GBL were men. Most of the deaths occurred in inner London, and in 77% of cases the deaths happened in private homes.

A third of those who died were HIV-positive, and the average age of those who died was 37. More than two-thirds of the deceased had other drugs in their system.

The study, published in Forensic Science International, explained that it is relatively easy to overdose from GHB.

‘There is a large variability in effects of a particular dose between and within individuals,’ it said. ‘This means that a euphoric dose for one person could be a sedative dose for another, and it is relativley easy to accidentally overdose.’

Because of this, GHB is responsible for ‘a disproportionate number of deaths compared to its incidence of use’.

Shockingly, GHB is not included in the general toxicology screening that they do when someone suddenly dies and drug use is suspected.

Joanna Hockenhull, the scientist behind the study, told Buzzfeed that the screenings pick up ‘over 300 drugs – but not GHB’.

‘In London we have become aware of chemsex over the last five years, but a lot of people aren’t aware of it,’ she added. ‘Especially toxicologists.’