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Date Rape Drugs

What are "Date Rape Drugs?"

Certain drugs, such as Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine, are sometimes called "rape drugs" because they can be used to facilitate sexual assault. When the drugs are hidden in a drink, they may be undetectable. The drugs can induce confusion, weakness, and/or unconsciousness. When ingested, these substances are harmful, even fatal.

The drugs are usually slipped into a victim's drink without the victim's knowledge or consent. When the drugs dissolve in the drink, they can be colorless, odorless and in some cases tasteless. Many of these drugs are also known as "club drugs" and are used at raves, clubs, and concerts.

Some rapists use these drugs to overpower and incapacitate their victims to facilitate a sexual assault. These crimes are sometimes called "drug-facilitated sexual assaults."

Check out this YouTube video clip to learn more about how drug facilitated sexual assaults can occur.

Signs You May Have Been Drugged

• Feeling much more intoxicated than your usual response to the amount of alcohol you consumed.
• Feeling intoxicated and not recalling consuming any alcohol.
• Waking up feeling intensified symptoms of a hangover, feeling "fuzzy," experiencing memory lapse, and being unable to account for a period of time.
• Remembering taking a drink but being unable to recall what happened for a period of time after you consumed the drink.
• Feeling as though someone had sex with you, but being unable to remember any or the entire incident.

Protecting Yourself and Others

• Do not accept drinks from people you do not know.
• Do not drink beverages that you did not open yourself.
• Do not share or exchange drinks with anyone.
• Do not take a drink from a punch bowl or a container that is being passed around.
• If possible, if you choose to drink, bring your own drinks to parties.
• If someone offers you a drink from the bar at a club or party, accompany the person to the bar to order your drink, watch the drink being poured, and carry the drink yourself.
• Do not leave your drink unattended while talking, dancing, using the restroom, or making a phone call.
• If you realize your drink has been left unattended, discard it.
• Do not drink anything that has an unusual taste or appearance (e.g., salty taste, excessive foam, unexplained residue).
• Do not mix drugs and alcohol.
• Be aware of your surroundings, keep track of your drinks, and look out for your friends. Appoint a friend who will not drink and who will regularly check up on the others in your group. Leave parties with people you know, not alone or with someone you do not know and trust.
• If someone seems very drunk after a single beverage, is exhibiting behavior that appears unusual for the circumstance, is having trouble breathing, or passes out and can not be awakened, realize that the person may be in danger. Get medical attention immediately. Call 911 for emergency medical help. Do not assume the person just needs to "sleep it off," this assumption could be potentially fatal.
• If you see or hear that someone is "dosing" a drink, do something. Warn other people at the party, throw the drink away, get help from friends, and if anyone seems "drugged," help her or him get medical care.
• Warn friends about high-risk situations or places such as clubs or parties where "dosing" is known to have happened. If you have information that could potentially save others from being harmed, contact the Butler University Police Department. Anonymous reports may be made online using the form on the Silent Watch web page.
• If you think you or someone you know may have been drugged, get to a safe place and take steps to report the incident and get medical care. Most "rape drugs" are metabolized very quickly by the body, so time is of the essence.

Types of "Rape Drugs"

Ketamine

What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a dissociative general anesthetic. It has hypnotic, stimulant and hallucinogenic properties. Although it is used in some medical settings, it is primarily used by veterinarians to anesthetize animals for surgery.

Effects of Ketamine
Ketamine is fast acting and can cause unconsciousness within 30 minutes. It can cause dizziness, dissociation, disorientation, hallucinations, impaired motor skills, and potentially fatal respiratory failure. Because of its dissociative effects, you may feel detached from your own body and your surroundings, a state sometimes referred to as "conscious sedation." You may be aware of what is happening to you, but unable to move. You may lose consciousness abruptly. Ketamine can also produce a one to two hour period of amnesia. It is especially dangerous when it is mixed with alcohol or other drugs.

What Ketamine looks like
Ketamine can be a liquid or a powder.

How Ketamine is abused
Ketamine is often used to sedate and incapacitate people for the purpose of sexually assaulting them. It can be slipped into a beverage without a person's knowledge or consent.

Street names for Ketamine

• K
• Special K
• Kat

GHB

What is GHB?
GHB is gamma-hydroxybutyrate. GHB is a powerful synthetic drug that has euphoric and sedative effects. The only FDA-approved medical use of GHB (Xyrem) is restricted for the treatment of patients with a rare neurological disorder called Narcolepsy who experience a condition characterized by weak or paralyzed muscles. Use of Xyrem for purposes other than prescribed is illegal.

Effects of GHB
GHB acts as a depressant on the central nervous system. Effects of GHB are dependent on the dose given and can occur within 15 minutes of ingestion. GHB can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, loss of inhibitions, aggression or belligerent behavior, seizures, decreased respiration, suppression of gag reflex, and intense drowsiness. In some cases, GHB causes unconsciousness or coma. As a result, you may not be able to recall what happened to you while you were under the influence of the drug.

What GHB looks like
GHB is usually a clear liquid or powder that is colorless and odorless. In liquid form, GHB has a thicker consistency than water, similar to dish soap. GHB may be stored in containers of varying sizes, including sports bottles, designer water bottles, eye dropper bottles, paper cups, and gel caps.

How GHB is abused
GHB is usually doled out by capfuls, teaspoons, drops, or swigs. It takes a very small amount to have a big effect. GHB may have a slightly salty taste that is often masked by mixing it with a sweet liqueur or fruit juice, or they may try to explain the salty taste by calling it a special "health" or "energy drink." Most of the GHB being used today is the "homegrown" variety, made by non-professionals.

Street names for GHB

• Liquid X
• Liquid E
• Scoop
• Great Hormones at Bedtime
• Easy Lay G
• Vita-G
• G-Juice

Rohypnol

What is Rohypnol?
Rohypnol is the brand name for flunitrazepam, a benzodiazepine drug in the same family of medications as Valium and Xanax. However, unlike these other drugs, Rohypnol has never been approved for any medical use in the United States. It is illegal to manufacture, distribute, or possess Rohypnol in this country.

Effects of Rohypnol
Rohypnol is a potent sedative. Rohypnol depresses the functions of the nervous and respiratory systems. Rohypnol may cause drowsiness, nausea, impaired motor skills, disorientation, poor balance and coordination, memory loss and reduced levels of consciousness. Under the influence, you may look and act like someone who is drunk, or, you may be rendered completely unconscious.

It is very dangerous to mix Rohypnol with alcohol or other drugs. The combination can produce extremely low blood pressure, respiratory depression, difficulty breathing, coma, or even death.

Rohypnol can cause complete or partial amnesia resulting in an absence of memory of the events that occurred after it was ingested. This effect is especially likely when Rohypnol is ingested with alcohol.

What Rohypnol looks like
Rohypnol is most commonly found in tablet form. Tablets are either small round white pills or oval shaped greenish-blue pills. When slipped into a carbonated beverage, the white pill dissolves and becomes invisible. The greenish-blue pills emit a blue dye. Rohypnol can also be found in liquid form.

How Rohypnol is abused
Rohypnol tablets are usually dropped whole or crushed into carbonated beverages. When Rohypnol dissolves in a drink, you usually can not see, smell, or taste it.

Street names for Rohypnol

• Roofies
• Rochies
• Roaches
• La Rochas
• Rib
• Mind Erasers

Ecstasy

What is Ecstasy
MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that acts as a stimulant.

Effects of Ecstasy
MDMA is often referred to as a "love drug" as its primary effect is to endow the user with great empathy for others, feeling at peace with themselves and the world. Using the drug can cause enhanced sensation, confusion, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, craving for the drug, and paranoia. Use of the drug also may result in muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, tremors, rapid eye movement, sweating, or chills. MDMA users also risk dehydration, exceptionally high fever, and heart or kidney failure if they use the drug while physically exerting themselves or in hot environments.

Ecstasy generally instills the user with energy: the peak of the drug's effect generally lasts about two hours, but it may continue to give you energy (thereby keeping you awake) for up to six.

What Ecstasy Looks Like
MDMA generally is sold as a tablet, which is taken orally. MDMA tablets are available in various colors and shapes and generally are imprinted with a logo.

How Ecstasy is Abused
MDMA is abused when the euphoric affect of the drug leads to continual use of the drug. Continued use leads to extreme stress on the body, the central nervous system, and mental state. Like other stimulants, the craving for increased energy and mental excitement is effected by MDMA abuse.

An additional risk results when other substances are added to MDMA tablets without the user's knowledge. Drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine reportedly have been added to MDMA tablets in some parts of the United States.

Street names for MDMA

• Ecstasy
• X
• E
• Hug drug
• Love drug
• Scooby snacks