Date rape drug

Date rape drugs are substances added to a drink to render a victim unconscious or compliant and able to be easily raped or sexually assaulted, perhaps adding to the effect of an alcoholic drink, generally unknown to the person drinking it. The drug may also be used to allow a victim to be robbed.

In cases of sexual assault, in most jurisdictions, the victim's inability to consent to sex may legally corroborate rape.

Some commonly known date rape drugs are GHB, ketamine and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol). Despite widespread media hysteria, these drugs are only used in a small minority of rapes as alcohol remains the drug most frequently implicated with substance-assisted sexual assault.^*

Hypnotic agents such as flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) have been used by rapists to render their victims unconscious before raping them. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration:

"Victims may not be aware that they ingested a drug at all. GHB and its analogues are invisible when dissolved in water, and are odorless. They are somewhat saltish in taste, but are indiscernible when dissolved in beverages such as soft drinks, liquor, or beer."^*

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

"Rohypnol can incapacitate victims and prevent them from resisting sexual assault. It can produce "anterograde amnesia," which means that individuals may not remember events they experienced while under the effects of the drug."^*

The sedative effects of Rohypnol begin to appear approximately 15–20 minutes after the drug is ingested. The effects typically last from four to six hours after administration of the drug, but some cases have been reported in which the effects were experienced 12 or more hours after administration. In recent news it has been discovered that scientists can now detect flunitrazepam and related compounds in urine at least up to 5 days after administration of a single dose of Rohypnol and up to a month in hair.^*

These drugs are extremely dangerous, and may kill or render the victim comatose. It is imperative that any investigation into the suspected use of date rape drugs involve the immediate carrying out of a blood test, as waiting too long to test for the presence of drugs may cause false negatives.

However, trying to deduce whether date rape drugs have been used from the symptoms is an approach that can cause false positives. In 2003, when the media were reporting a drink-spiking epidemic in Perth, Western Australia, 44 women had their blood tested because they believed they had been the victims of drink-spiking. The West Australian Chemistry Centre tested the blood samples and in these 44 cases, the only substance found in the victim's system was excessive alcohol. Police said that the blood-alcohol level of most of the subjects was significantly higher than what the women had themselves expected. This is irrelevant to the issue of whether an assault is rape or not. The legal definition of rape in countries such as the United States, also covers a lack of consent when the victim is unable to say "no" to intercourse, due to the effects of drugs or alcohol.^* In large amounts, alcohol has the same effects as date rape drugs, and causes unconsciousness and memory loss.

Testing kits that claim to detect GHB, Ketamine, and benzodiazepines such as Rohypnol in seconds are commercially available under names such as "The Drink Detective."

Sometimes victims end up drinking too much and insist that they were drugged when in fact they overestimated their tolerance for alcohol. A study in the UK found that only 2 percent of a pool of 1014 rape victims had their drinks spiked with sedatives.^*

Companies around the world are making or trying to make paper coasters or drink stirries that change color when dabbed with a drink doctored with a date rape drug. These colorless and odorless tranquillisers can lull victims into a semi-comatose state, leaving them unable to remember what happened to them.

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