Date Rape Drugs

By Garda Ghista
(PNA - December 2003) - According to an article by Diane Cordova which appeared in the Binghamton University newspaper on March 38, 2003, date rape drugs are a problem on campuses across America, and campus administrators are looking for solutions. Cordova writes that university health centers have witnessed an increase in reports of date rape drugs, with the typical distribution being bars. The Chronicle of Higher Education also reported that Rohypnol-related drug rape cases have occurred on campuses across the nation.

Rohypnol is now banned in the United States. However, it is still available in 80 other countries, and continues to be smuggled into the U.S. via mail or delivery services. According to Lisa Celestin, a victim in the film “Rohypnol,” it’s all about money for Hoffman-LaRouche, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Rohypnol. The company makes $100 million a year from sales of Rohypnol.

Rohypnol is prescribed for severe sleep disorders. However, Rohypnol, GHB and Ketamin, particularly when mixed with alcohol, can be deadly. The drugs are odorless, tasteless and colorless, and produce near total amnesia for anywhere from 10 to 24 hours. They are also hard to trace because they disappear from the body within hours. For this reason, plus the fact that the victim hardly remembers anything, the rape becomes difficult to prove in a court of law.

Rohypnol tablets are white, scored on one side with the word “ROCHE”, and an encircled “1” or “2” (depending on the dosage) on the other side. The small white pills are slipped into young women’s drinks without their knowledge. The trauma from the ensuing rape can last for life. As pointed out in the film, “Date Rape Drugs: Dateline,” while initially there is total memory loss, after two or three days flashbacks can occur, in which the victim remembers her rapist partially or totally. Sometimes the victim is conscious during the rape but can neither move nor speak. Possible consequences of date rape while drugged are pregnancy and AIDS. Rohypnol is a “crime in a pill”.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, effects of taking Rohypnol, GHB and Ketamin can be: amnesia lasting up to 24 hours, dizziness and disorientation, slurred speech, loss of control of limbs, difficulty in walking, the appearance of drunkenness not related to alcohol, nausea, decreased blood pressure, difficulty speaking, and urinary retention. More serious effects cited are potential changes to critical parts of the brain, and potential kidney and cardiovascular system failure.

Katie Koestner, a date-rape survivor who graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1994, and who has appeared on numerous talk shows, has co-authored the guidebooks, “Sexual Assault on Campus: What Every College Needs to Know About Protecting Victims, Providing for Just Adjudication and Complying with Federal Laws” (1995) and “Total Sexual Assault Risk Management Strategies for Colleges” (1997). Outraged at her college’s indifference to her victimization, she went public, appearing on the cover of Time magazine, the Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nighly News and Larry King Live. As a result of her efforts, the Victim’s Bill of Rights law was passed in 1992.

The problem of date rape drugs extends beyond the borders of the United States to countries like Ireland, where in October, 2002 the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), in conjunction with the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, launched a campaign to raise awareness about drug rape in colleges across the country. Maureen Woods, a USI welfare officer, reported that the latest menace was the Internet providing recipes for manufacturing the drugs.

Drink Safe Technologies, a company based in Plantation, Florida, has sold more than 50 million ‘coasters’ that test for ‘date rape’ drugs, GHB and ketamin, in drinks. However, Brian Glover, co-inventor of the coasters, acknowledges that there are more than 36 drugs on the street classified as date-rape drugs.

According to the National Women’s Health Information Center, a project of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the following preventive steps can be taken: be wary of accepting drinks from strangers; make sure any drink you accept is from an unopened container and that you open it yourself; do not leave the drink unattended for any period; and, tell other women about Rohypnol and what it does. [END]

Copyright The author 2003