Periscope

CRIME

Don't Date On Drugs

In recent weeks U.S. newspapers have been preoccupied with two sensational cases involving gamma hydroxybutyrate acid (GHB). Use of the so-called date-rape drug, which knocks out its victims for several hours, has been growing for almost a decade. As recently as 1994 there were only 56 GHB-related emergency-room visits nationwide. By 2001 that number had spiked to 3,340, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Doctors, advocates for rape victims and toxicologists recently called in to testify in sex-assault cases say they've seen a large surge in reports of GHB-fueled sex assaults. The liquid drug is colorless, odorless and frighteningly easy to use, and exits the body within six to 12 hours. Without toxicological evidence, it can be difficult to prove that the rape victim didn't willingly consent to sex. Most victims wake up hours later with little or no memory of what has happened.

Alarmed, U.S. colleges are taking an active role in protecting women. More than 40 universities and thousands of bars have ordered coasters that detect the drug by turning blue when exposed to GHB (women splash their drink onto "test spots"). But activists are already warning women not to rely solely on the coasters, since they don't test for increasingly popular, easy-to-obtain--and still legal--GHB knockoffs like GBL and 1,4BD. The DEA is so concerned about the rise in GHB-facilitated sexual assaults that officials have been meeting with representatives from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network to heighten awareness of GHB and other "predatory" drugs--an unusual move for an agency typically focused on interdiction. The DEA plans to double the number of its predatory-drug investigations.

--Suzanne Smalley