Ladies, keep an eye on your drinks!

By Tracey Phillips, On-line Forty-Niner

May 14,1998

Experts say date-rape drugs are prevalent; but many cases are not reported due to loss of memory

 

Sgt. Bonnie Myers of Cal State Long Beach University Police warns students, especially women, to take care of each other at bars, parties or in any social situation.

 

Be observant, she says, and watch out for predators. Myers is warning students about "Roofies," "Roachies" or "La Rocha" - some of the street names for Rohypnol, better known as the date-rape drug.

 

"Women tend to think if there are two of them, they will be OK," Myers says, "but if one gets drunk and the other gets drugged, they can't watch out for each other very well."

 

Reports of sexual assaults in which drugs have been slipped into people's drinks, usually in social settings, have increased in recent years.

 

Rohypnol and Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, are the most well-known of these drugs. Rohypnol causes heavy sedation within 30 minutes of ingestion, reaching its peak about two hours later and lasting up to eight, depending on the dose.

 

When slipped into a drink, the drugs leave no odor, color or taste. Each produces dizziness and fatigue, and usually causes a person to black out, according to Malinda Waddell, owner and director of Forensic Nurse Specialists.

Waddell's company is contracted by Long Beach and other Southland cities to provide forensic evidence collection for victims of sexual assault. Considered an expert on date-rape drugs, she gives presentations to medical and law enforcement professionals throughout Southern California.

 

Waddell says that GHB has much of the same effects as Rohypnol, but GHB slows the respiratory system, which can lead to death. Both are known to cause amnesia and can be highly toxic when mixed with alcohol. Both are illegal in the United States.

 

In a common scenario described by police officers and rape crisis centers, a perpetrator preys on a woman alone at a bar.

 

He slips a drug into her drink, watching and waiting for her to react to it. He may or may not be an acquaintance or friend.

He takes her away from the bar when she appears sedated, telling anybody who is watching that he will take her home since she obviously does not feel well.

 

Erin Van Dorselaer, case manager at the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency in Long Beach, described one perpetrator who closed out a woman's credit card tab, took her purse with her keys and ID, and drove her to her house in her own car. He had covered all the bases; nothing looked suspicious.

 

She did not realize she had been raped until days later.

 

That woman was lucky in that she awoke in her own home. Other women have reported waking up in more confusing, even dangerous situations, such as in fraternity houses with no clothes on, or in unfamiliar settings with unfamiliar people, having no idea how they got there, Van Dorselaer says.

 

Rohypnol is prescribed outside the United States for sleep disorders. The drug is smuggled across the Mexican border where it is easily obtained without a prescription, then sold on U.S. streets, the Drug Enforcement Agency reports.

 

It is in the same class of substances as Valium and Xanax, but the DEA is currently trying to change its status to equal that of heroin. If this change goes through, the penalty for possession of Rohypnol could carry a 20-year sentence.

 

Waddell says one dose of Rohypnol is "about 10 times stronger" than the same dose of Valium, with a stronger amnesic effect.

 

According to the FBI Crime Index, only 10 percent of rapes are reported. Because of drug-induced amnesia, even less rapes are reported when date-rape drugs are involved.

 

Drug or alcohol use by either the perpetrator or the rape survivor is involved in more than 50 percent of all rapes involving college students.

 

According to Myers, there have been "no reported incidents involving date-rape drugs on campus."

 

Myers routinely speaks to University 100 classes, SOAR and Residential Life orientation groups (all mostly freshmen), and non-verbal communication classes about safety on and off campus.

She says that the word is out, and women seem to have learned something about of date-rape drugs while in high school and community college.

 

The Women's Resource Center also talks with students who have been sexually assaulted after having been drugged, WRC Assistant Director Lynne Coenen says, adding the center does not keep statistics.

 

"It is more common than what is being publicized, it's just not being reported because women have no memory of it," Waddell observes.

 

According to Detective Randi Castillo of the Long Beach Police Department, there has been one confirmed case of rape in the past three years in which GHB was used.

 

There have been no confirmed cases of assault in which Rohypnol was used.

 

Rohypnol must be tested for within the first 72 hours after ingestion.

 

It requires a special testing procedure because it does not show up on a regular toxicology report, Waddell says.

 

GHB usually clears out of the body within four hours, although Waddell recalls one case where the urine test came back "highly positive" for GHB 18 hours after ingestion.

... it's just not being reported because women have no

memory of it."

 

-Malinda Waddell,

Forensic Nurse

Specialist owner

---

 

Rohypnol's manufacturer, Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., is currently trying to obtain approval to manufacture a new form of the drug.

 

It will dissolve more slowly in liquid and release a bright blue color, making it more easily detectable if slipped into a beverage, according to the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

 

If approved, the current formulation will be recalled from the market.

 

Hoffman-LaRoche could not give a projected release date for the new formulation.

 

Van Dorselaer stresses that women need to protect themselves by watching their drinks at all times when in any social situation, accepting open bottles or mixed drinks only from a bartender or waiter.

 

"The formation of a new form of Rohypnol does not alleviate the problem," she says. "Women still need to be aware."

 

If a woman believes she may have been sexually assaulted, she should immediately call a rape crisis center, the police or 911.

 

A toll-free, 24-hour, rape crisis hotline number that can be used throughout the U.S. is (800) 656-HOPE. In Long Beach, the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency 24-hour hotline is (562) 597-2002.