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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2000)
yourself from Yuu miuw noi lu wdiK across campus aione arter dark, to lock your door before going to bed, to call for a ride if you’re too drunk to drive. You may even be armed with pepper spray. But chances are you underestimate the danger of another, more stealthy predator. Rebecca* did. The 19-year-old University of Massachusetts student awoke in her dorm room after a party one night, naked from the waist down. Though Rebecca had no clear memory of what happened the night before, bits and pieces came back to her. Watching a movie with her friend Liz and two male friends; danc ing and playing drinking games; tending to Liz when she suddenly :ll._l:_iL._j.. __•_ ii f.v.uiiujr mi, '-11^1115 tilt: pal L_y, paying guuu-uyc to one of the guys. It’s what happened next that Rebecca couldn’t recall, a memory lapse that lead her to fear the worst, suspicions that were confirmed by a doctor’s exam the next day. Rebecca had been raped. Police believe Rebecca and Liz were given a dose of “roofies,” a drug widely known to reduce inhibitions and cause amnesia. Unce popular in the party scene tor their hangover-free high, a 2 mg dose of drugs like Rohypnol, Ketamine or CHB can cause dis orientation and confusion within 15-20 minutes. The symptoms are often mistaken for extreme alcohol intoxication—drowsiness, dizzi ness, lack of muscle coordination and nausea. One dose can cause a person to blank out for up to eight hours, and an overdose can kill you. Use of the drugs to facilitate sexual assault has become so com mon that they have become known as “date rape drugs.” Their list of nicknames is a long one—roofies, forget pill, mind erasers, liquid ecstasy, grievous bodily harm and easy lay, to name a few. Rebecca is only one of hundreds of suspected victims nation wide. In Virginia, two 15-year-old girls were raped using Rohypnol when they went to visit a friend. Joy Diliello of Jackson, Tenn. was raped by a man who slipped her Rohypnol. He reportedly boasted about attacks on 20 other women. Rootle overdoses have killed more than 66 people, one of them a 16-year-old Michigan girl named Samantha Reid, who drank a Mountain Dew spiked with CHB (see GHBkills.com for more on GHB). Her death inspired the Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act, which puts GHB and Ketamine in the same class as cocaine and heroin in terms of possession and distribution. The government has an emergency drug alert info site at emergency.com/roofies.htm, and a club drugs site, clubdrugs.org. Because college women are particularly susceptible to the dangers of date rape drugs, which are commonly used in bars or Never leave drinks unattended at a party or bar, and avoid drinks pur chased by strangers. at large parties, many campuses have issued warn ings about the drugs. Despite heightened awareness about date rape drugs, successful prosecution of rapes involving the drugs is rare. All traces of these drugs leave the body in under 72 hours, and an uncertain, confused victim doesn’t always make it to the hospital for a drug screening immediately after a suspected rape. in if a 1. Never leave an open drink unattended. 2. Don’t let strangers buy you a drink. 3. Open your own bottles or watch a bartender open them for you. 4. Don’t drink from communal punch bowls—they could be spiked. 5. Be wary of strangers who come up close to you while you’re holding a drink—pills can be easily dropped Into a glass when you’re looking away. ft ctnamtiinn«kle not Rebecca’s perpetrator went to trial but was acquitted because all drug related evidence was ruled inadmissible by the judge. Simply put, she had no proof that she’d been slipped a roofie. Experts advise women to never leave drinks unattended at a party or bar, and to avoid drinks purchased by strangers. If you believe you may have been the victim of a drugging, visit the British Roofie Foundation at faze.com/trf or the Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services site at connsacs.org/rohypnol.htm for advice about what you should and should not do and the legal hurdles you may have to face. • *name changed to protect identity of the victim For a guide to online support groups and emergency informa tion go to steamtunnels.net and search for keyword “Support. ” I A homemade manufacturing kit for the date rape drug CHB or I gamma hydroxybutyric acid, available on an Internet site. Top left: AP Photo/M.). Avila Top right: AP Photo/Paul Warner Bottom: AP Photo/Paul Warner
