Date rape drug

A "date rape drug" is a common term given to a growing number of substances rapists use to pacify their victims in order to sexually assault them with little or no physical resistance. Typically, the rapist slips the drug into the unsuspecting victim's drink when he or she is not paying attention. The date rape drugs Rohypnol and GHB have gained a lot of press coverage recently, but it is important to keep in mind that over 20 substances have been found in the urine samples of date rape drug victims. Lastly, remember that ALCOHOL CAN BE A DATE RAPE DRUG, as rapists use it to decrease their victim's inhibitions.

Date rape drug is more than an informal class of drugs, it is one of the latest propaganda terms used by the media and government in the "War on Drugs" (or war on some drugs).

The term is particularly nasty, because of the implication that the main reason that people acquire the drug is for the purpose of knocking someone out to rape them. Thus trying a "guilt by association" assertion by linking the use of a drug with a more violent crime that noone would ever defend.

While this is a particularly nasty crime, it is blown way out of proportion. GHB actually feels good, most of the people who have ever taken it have done so knowingly and because they enjoy it. In fact, it has even been used, quite legally, in some countries as a medication. Even the "original date rape drug",Rohypnol has been known to be taken, quite on purpose, for the euphoric effects that it can produce.

Its like describing baseball bats as "devices used for the purpose of battering defenseless women". While they can be used that way (and I would bet even have been), it is not their only use. The reason that this sounds absurd is because we all know what a baseball bat is really used to do. That is not the case with these "date rape drugs" for many.

Recently this term has been applied in the media to ecstasy (MDMA), which shows how much of a propaganda term this is. You can't knock a person out by giving them ecstasy. You might as well call pot a date rape drug, or coffee.

It was the use of this term that got GHB, a chemical found in red meat (not to mention every living animal cell) and a chemical that has been found useful in the treatment of certain conditions (like narcolepsy), banned in the USA.

A new one that you don't hear of often, but was the mysterious culprit of a series of date rapes and robberies, was Scopolamine.

It's used in motion sickness patches, but it used in higher quantities, can cause delirium and retrograde amnesia.

In New York city, there were a string of out-of-town businessmen who wound up in the ER completely delirious, which would subside after a few hours, and all their money, credit cards, hotel keys would be stolen. Turns out they all went to the downstairs bars of their respective hotels, where they were all hit on by a woman. The guess by the police is that each time she slipped some of it into the man's drink, and as they went up to his room he'd collapse, while she'd loot everything. The side effect of the drug is that it leads to a retrograde amnesia, where you don't remember the events leading up to the event clearly. Also, there were no subsequent traces of the drug in the bloodstream.

Finally, a paramedic noticed a partially finished wine glass at one of the scenes and brought it in for testing. A gas chromatograph confirmed the drug Scopolamine, and a warning was issued to businessmen and tourists.

There was only 1 death, and I'm not sure of the reasons, perhaps the drug led to complications, although it could have been a mysterious overdose.