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DATE RAPE DRUGS COME TO G.R. Two new drugs to enter the nightlife are cause for students to watch their drinks
By Hillary Whitcomb WORLD NEWS EDITOR In most big cities, they tell you to watch your back. In Grand Rapids, it’s getting to be, “Watch your drink.” Crime has moved from “right in your own backyard” to “right in your own hand,” as the so-called “date rape drugs” try out the nightlife in this city. The two newest drugs are called Rohypnol and gammahydroxybutyrate (GHB); they slip neatly and undetectably into drinks, often throwing victims into unconsciousness and making them unresisting targets for crimes like rape. “Grand Rapids police first spotted people using GHB in the summer of 1997 during evening concerts on Monroe Mall,” said a Feb. 8 Grand Rapids Press article. “Since then, police have handled a handful of cases where they suspect people have ingested the drug, either intentionally or unknowingly. Grand Rapids police say if GHB already hasn’t spread to the suburbs, it will.” Anamarie Joosse of Calvin’s Broene Center responded to the Press article by saying that it makes this issue on Calvin’s campus “more imperative. We know it’s being sold on the streets here,” she said. “We can no longer say, ‘It’s probably far away.’ Now we know it’s close to us.” Grand Rapids police are also suggesting that people look out for these drugs. Grand Rapids Police Sergeant, Dan Mills has spoken at local high schools to make sure that students know about GHB and Rohypnol. At Central High School, Mills said in the Press article, he heard a murmur of recognition run through his audience. “You could hear them go, ‘Oooh.’ They knew what it was,” he said. Dr. Suzanne White of the Poison Control Center at Children’s Hospital of Michigan said in another Press article, “In 1997, we had one hospitalization every two weeks [for ingestion of GHB]. We’ve seen double that number in 1998.”
“I have friends on larger campuses, at some state universities, and I’ve read stuff in their newspapers about incidents with this,” said Calvin sophomore Kimberlee Bickley. Senior Heather Tigchelaar has heard about date rape drugs, too. “My mom actually gave me a newspaper article [about the drugs], because she knows I like to hang out in pubs, and she said, ‘Look, you have to watch out for this.’” GHB has been in the news more often than Rohypnol lately, but both drugs are threats. People watching out for Rohypnol need to know that in other countries it is a legal pre-anesthetic drug and prescription sleeping pill, but it has not been approved by the FDA for U.S. use. In fact, the manufacturer (European-based Hoffman-LaRoche) never sought that approval. Hoffman-LaRoche manufactures Rohypnol legally in Mexico and Colombia, and people have been smuggling it into the United States in large amounts since about three years ago. Rohypnol usually comes in pill form in the manufacturer’s bubble packaging. It has recently been reformulated to make the drug easier to detect in clear liquids and slower to dissolve in them, but older forms — which are easier to conceal — are still available on the street. Unlike Rohypnol, GHB was sold legally until 1990 in health food stores as a body-building drug. It has been taken out of stores but has a simple recipe. A bulletin from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office said that the most common places of GHB production are in the home and other non-professional laboratories. “Many users take it intentionally because it gives them a ‘buzz’ similar to alcohol,” said the Press article, quoting police. However, GHB’s dosage is difficult to regulate, and when users combine it with alcohol, the effects are unpredictable and dangerous. Rapists often try to disguise the salty or soapy taste of GHB by putting it into a bitter drink, like alcohol or cranberry juice. GHB is usually clear and odorless, so taste is generally the only detectable characteristic. Grand Rapids police said that GHB is sold in pint- or quart-size jars or small vials, and people commonly keep it in sport-style squeeze water bottles.
One of the signature effects of Rohypnol, especially when taken with alcohol, is partial or complete amnesia. Thus, the drug prevents victims from defending themselves or calling out for help. “Often at parties, you drink it and then you just pass out. You’re unconscious and you don’t know what’s going on,” said junior Mandy Bowers, explaining what she’d heard about the drugs. “[Dosing victims with Rohypnol is] almost like the perfect crime,” said Dennis Nicewander, assistant attorney in Broward County’s (Fla.) sex crimes unit, in a Detroit Free Press article. “[The criminals] don’t have to worry about a witness testifying against them. And don’t think these guys aren’t figuring that out. These are unique cases — not the kind of guys you’d expect to see out there raping women. They seem to be the kind of guys you’d see at a happy hour with their buddies, the kind of frat-boy mentality that thinks it’s fun to get a girl drunk and have their way.” Understanding some of the effects of these drugs shows why they are so effective as rape facilitators. Rohypnol takes effect within 30 minutes of ingestion and peak effects occur within two hours. GHB takes effect within 15 minutes of ingestion. Both drugs are illegal in the United States, and both have been used in Michigan. Several Calvin students said that they’ve heard of the drugs being common in dance clubs or nightclubs, although none of the students surveyed had had any first- or second-hand experience with date-rape drugs. Watching your drink may prevent this statistic from changing any time soon. |
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