Drug checking service identifies GHB sold as another substance in Wellington

A drug harm reduction service is encouraging people to get substances such as GHB tested.

It comes after one person died and five others were hospitalised following a string of suspected overdoses of the fantasy drug GHB in Wellington in recent days.

A woman died at Woofingtons, a castle-like mansion in Wellington after drinking GHB from a bottle, her friend earlier told RNZ.

There are a group of three "G-type" substances - GHB, GBL and 14BD.

DISC Trust national harm reduction lead Jason George said sometimes one G-type drug was sold as another.

"In the last week or so, we've had a couple of G-type substances come through our drug checking service in Wellington, and one of those involved GHB being sold as 14BD."

He said when people thought what they were taking was something else, they could think it wasn't working and end up taking more to get the effects they were looking for.

"Then it comes on a bit later and ends up being stronger than intended and people can accidentally overdose or take a bit more than they wanted to."

He said just tenths of a ml could be the difference between "having a good time" or "having a really bad time".

"If you haven't had it checked, there's really no way of knowing that it's what it was sold to you as, so we really recommend coming into a drug checking service.

"That way [if] you're going to take it you know it is what you think it is."