There are several very dangerous drugs on the streets and campuses these days being used to sedate potential rape victims. Powerful, orderless, tasteless drugs like, GHB, Rohypnol, Ketamine dissolve quickly and invisibly into liquids and are being used to secretly spike people's beverages, causing rapid and severe intoxication, dramatically reducing inhibitions, and memory loss.

What is GHB?

• GHB is gamma hydroxy-butyrate. It is chemically similar to a substance that is found in every cell of the human body. Some users claim that this means it's safe, but they are wrong. GHB is a depressant, slowing down brain and body processes, and without a doctor's supervision, using any depressant is very hazardous.
• In the past, doctors have used GHB to treat insomnia, childbirth problems, anxiety, and a few other problems.
• Some weightlifters claim the drug helps build muscle, but no scientific studies have been able to show those benefits.
• GHB was outlawed by the U.S. Federal government in 1990 because of the ease of accidental overdose and addiction potential.
• Two of the ingredients of street GHB are a particular engine degreaser and a drain cleaner.
• Although it is sometimes found in a powder or tablet, GHB is usually liquid, which users sip from bottle caps.
• The drug is clear and odorless and tastes like salt water, but when mixed with a sweet or strong-flavored drink, its taste is mostly covered up.

Effects of GHB

• In small doses, GHB produces a mild sedative effect, slowed heart and breathing rates, inability to think quickly or logically, physical weakness, and loss of consciousness. Effects kick in about after 10 minutes, and last about 4 hours.
• Overdose can occur easily because the dosing is not precise.
• Overdose symptoms include drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, headache, unconsciousness, loss of physical reflexes, dramatically slowed breathing, and ultimately, death. Taking GHB with alcohol can be deadly.
• Repeated use can lead to addiction and tough withdrawal. If someone takes a bit too much at once, GHB can produce seizures, coma, or death.

GHB Street Names

GHB's street names include:

1. "G"
2. Liquid Ecstasy
3. Georgia Home Boy
4. Grievous Bodily Harm
5. Gamma G
6. Somatomax
7. Growth Hormone Booster
8. Soap
9. Easy Lay

What is Rohypnol?

• Rohypnol is the brand name of a drug called flunitrazepam. It is a surgical anesthetic or sleeping pill used legally by doctors around the world.
• It is about 10 times more potent than most common prescription sleeping pills.
• Rohypnol can produce "anterograde amnesia" in which individuals may not remember their experiences while under the influences of the drugs.
• Rohypnol is illegal in the U.S. and Canada, but is smuggled in from other countries.
• The pills are usually round, white, and labeled "Roche," with a circled number "1" or "2." Sometimes, the pills are ground up into a powder.
• Rohypnol dissolves quickly in liquid. It has a bitter taste when mixed in a drink, but like GHB, its taste can be mostly covered.
• The good news about Rohypnol is that its manufacturer, Hoffman-LaRoche, has made a new formulation of the drug that could be harder to abuse.
• The newer version of Rohypnol will turn blue when it is put in a drink, and it will take longer to dissolve. Naturally, someone who has a dark-colored drink will still need to take extra steps to be safe. Everyone else should be better protected against abuse by means of this drug.

Effects of Rohypnol

• Rohypnol makes the user feel "hypnotized." A tiny dose lasts 8-12 hours.
• It causes complete loss of muscle control, lowered blood pressure, dizziness, drowsiness, visual disturbances, confusion, and digestive problems.
• Rohypnol causes loss of consciousness and can cause amnesia.
• Alcohol accelerates the drug's intoxicating effects and leaves the victim completely helpless.
• Because victims are likely to suffer amnesia, it is often impossible for the victim to tell the details of a rape or assault. Victims are often aware that they have been sexually assaulted, but they can't explain how it happened.
• Rohypnol can produce physical and psychological dependence - addiction -- and people in withdrawal often suffer seizures.
• Rohypnol is incredibly dangerous, especially if taken with other sedatives, like alcohol. Accidental overdose is deadly; just a tiny bit too much can kill.

Rohypnol Street Name

Rohypnol tablets may be called:

1. Roofies
2. Roach
3. Roofenol
4. Roché
5. La Rocha
6. Roll-and-Fall
7. Rope
8. The Forget-Me Pill.

What is Ketamine?

• Ketamine was developed in the 1960s as an anesthetic for surgeries.
• It is closely related to PCP. Both are called "dissociatives," which means that they cause a splitting from reality.
• Ketamine is a legal prescription drug, used mostly in veterinary medicine.
• Ketamine is found in a white powder or a liquid in small pharmaceutical bottles. It may be snorted, injected into a muscle, or taken by mouth.
• Ketamine is odorless and tasteless. It works super quickly, so if someone put it in your drink you would lose consciousness in less than a minute.

Effects of Ketamine

• Using Ketamine is like someone taking a crowbar and smacking you as hard as they can at the base of your skull!
• Like a blow with a crowbar, a dose of Ketamine can either knock someone cold or kill him.
• Ketamine makes users delirious. They completely lose control of their bodies. It causes unconsciousness, hallucinations, numbing, and amnesia. It can also cause agitation, violence, confusion, and difficulty hearing, understanding, or speaking.
• High blood pressure and potentially fatal breathing difficulties are real risks. Ketamine lowers the heart rate and can lead to oxygen starvation in the brain and muscles. Ketamine overdose can be fatal.

Ketamine Street Names

Some of Ketamine's street names are:

1. Special K
2. Vitamin K
3. Lady K
4. Super K
5. Ketaject
6. Cat Tranquilizers

Statistics

GHB

• GHB is a Schedule I substance in the U.S., meaning it has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use, and lacks safe-use guidelines. This is the most restricted drug schedule.
• In 1998, GHB led to 1,343 emergency room visits.
• The DEA reports that since 1992, there have been over 3,500 overdoses on GHB.

Rohypnol

• Rohypnol (the brand name for flunitrazepam) is a Schedule IV substance in the U.S., meaning that it has a currently accepted medical use, but may lead to physical dependence and psychological dependence.
• Rohypnol is 10 times as strong as the common sedative Valium.

A recent congressional study showed that in one year, over 4 million doses of Rohypnol were brought into the United States from Mexico.

Ketamine

• In August 1999, the U.S. DEA made Ketamine a Schedule III drug, meaning that while it has a currently accepted medical use in the U.S., it has a high likelihood of leading to psychological dependence and some likelihood of leading to physical dependence.
• Since 1992 DEA has received more than 500 reports of the sale and/or use of the drug in schools by minors, on college campuses, at nightclubs and rave dances.
• The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) recorded 207 Ketamine related hospital emergency room episodes between 1993 and 1998.

Rape

• Approximately 1,872 women are sexually assaulted in the United States every day.
• 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
• 1 in 5 men will be assaulted in their lifetime.
• 1 in 8 college women have been victims of rape.
• 1 in 12 college men admitted to sexually abusing women but did not consider themselves rapists.
• Nationally, 85% of all sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.
• 47% of rapes were by first or casual dates or by romantic acquaintances

Protect Yourself

• Rapists take easy opportunities. They look for victims who appear accessible and unprotected. Take steps to keep yourself from being -- or appearing to be -- vulnerable.

some precautions to take in order to avoid being a victim of date rape drugs:

Don't drink anything:

1. From a punch bowl.
2. With an unexpected color, appearance, or smell.
3. From an open container.
4. That tastes salty when it shouldn't.

• Don't leave your drink unattended.
• Don't share or exchange drinks.
• Don't take beverages from someone you do not know well and trust.
• At a bar or club, watch your drink being prepared if possible.
• At a bar or club, accept drinks only from the bartender, waiter, or waitress.
• If you hear someone "kidding" about date rape drugs, pay attention. That should be a warning to leave that party or individual.

Law

• In 1996, Congress unanimously passed the Drug Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act, which provides severe sentences of up to 20 years for anyone convicted for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to commit a crime of violence, including sexual assault.
• So-called date rape or acquaintance rape is still RAPE. The same legal remedies and consequences apply to the victims and perpetrators of these rapes as apply to stranger rapes.
• Unfortunately, date rapes can be difficult to prove. A gun or knife is rarely used in these crimes, and so it is harder for the victim to prove that she was forced to have sex. Unless a "date rape drug" is found in the victim's blood or urine, she may be left with her word against the perpetrator's word. The victim has to prove that she was given the drug without her knowledge, was not able to resist, and was assaulted, or resisted, and was overpowered.
• The decision to press charges in a case of acquaintance rape can be difficult, but it is important. The more our courts and communities have to deal with rape, the more awareness about rape increases.
• Like those who rape strangers, date rapists rarely rape only once. Pressing charges may help prevent other women from suffering a rape.

Consequences for "Date Rapists"

* Rape laws vary from state to state.

• In all states, rape is a felony. Most states impose imprisonment from 10 to 25 years. Fines of up to $10,000 and restitution to the victim of costs and losses may also be required.
• Federal rape statutes are especially strong. Rape of a victim who is "physically incapable of declining participation" in the sex act is punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 20 years.
• The rapist does not necessarily have to be the one who drugged the victim; he could be just taking advantage of an existing situation.
• On the other hand, a rapist who "renders another person unconscious" or "substantially impairs the ability of that other person to appraise or control conduct" faces high fines plus imprisonment up to life.

Sources:

1. In the Know (www.intheknowzone.com)
2. National Institute of Drug Abuse