Rohypnol / Flunitrazepam ( Date rape drug )

 

                Rohypnol is also known as the date rape drug.

A date rape drug, also called a predator drug, is any drug that can be used to assist in the execution of drug facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). The unofficial term "date rape drug" came into widespread usage in the early 1990s through U.S. news media reports.
The most common types of DFSA are those in which a victim ingested drugs willingly for recreational purposes, or had them administered surreptitiously:^[1] it is the latter type of assault that the term "date rape drug" most often refers to. Date rape drugs often have sedative, hypnotic, dissociative, and/or amnesiac effects, and can be added to a food or drink without the victim's knowledge.

 

Overview and history

Sexual assault of people under the influence of alcohol or drugs is not new, and sexual assaults of people who have voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs is common. It is also not new to slip something into somebody's drink to incapacitate them. However, it wasn't until the mid-1990s that law enforcement agents began to see a pattern of women being surreptitiously drugged for the purpose of rape, particularly through use of odorless, tasteless incapacitating drugs that produce anterograde amnesia.^[2]

Typically, the victim was consuming an alcoholic drink in a non-threatening social or business setting alongside others doing the same thing, when she lost awareness of what was happening. When she regained consciousness, hours later, she was often in a different location, there were signs she had been sexually assaulted (such as disarranged clothing, the presence of semen, or vaginal or anal soreness), she felt after-effects of substance use such as wooziness or confusion, and she had little or no memory of what had happened to her.

Frequency of occurrence

There is no way to know how frequently DFSA occurs, because many victims do not report their assault and because it may be impossible to prove that a rape victim was administered drugs, either because she was never tested for them, she was tested for the wrong ones or the tests were administered after the drug has been metabolized and left her body. One study of 1,179 urine specimens from victims of suspected DFSAs in 49 American states found six (0.5%) positive for Rohypnol, 97 (8%) positive for other benzodiazepines, 451 (38%) positive for alcohol and 468 (40%) negative for any of the drugs searched for. A similar study of 2,003 urine samples of victims of suspected DFSAs found less than 2% tested positive for Rohypnol or GHB.[5] A three-year study in the UK found two percent of 1,014 rape victims had sedatives detected in their urine 12 hours after the assault.[6][7] A 2009 Australian study found that of 97 instances of patients admitted to hospital believing their drinks might have been spiked, tests were able to detect drugs in none.

Dangers

In an effort to fully immobilize their victim and therefore avoid being caught, the rapist may tend to give the victim a dangerously large dose of the incapacitating drug, risking overdose. The victim may have an allergy to the drug, or may be taking a prescription drug that interacts dangerously with it.
Respiratory depression, coma, and death are possibilities when someone unknowingly takes a date rape drug, especially in large doses or in combination with alcohol. Short acting but potent benzodiazepines in particular can be extremely dangerous in combination with alcohol, potentially leading to extreme respiratory depression, a risk which is increased in someone who is naive to benzodiazepines. If the victim does not realize they have been drugged and continues to consume alcohol, the combined effects can lead to coma or death.