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Date Rape Story

GHB - Commonly used Date Rape Drug

GHB can mentally and physically paralyze an individual, and these effects are intensified when the drug is combined with alcohol. This drug is a common date rape drug. It is difficult to estimate the incidence of drug-facilitated rape involving GHB. GHB induces a sense of euphoria and intoxication. It is sometimes mixed with alcohol to intensify its effects resulting in respiratory depression and coma. The typical dose is one-five grams of powder (depending on the purity of the compound this can be one-two teaspoons mixed in a beverage). This drug is odorless, colorless, and only slightly salty, making it practically undetectable in a drink – the normal route of ingestion. The onset of effects occurs within 15-30 minutes, and lasts three-six hours. Victims may not seek help until days after the assault, in part because the drug impairs their memory and in part because they may not identify signs of sexual assault. GHB is only detectable in a person's system for a limited amount of time and, if the victim does not seek immediate help, the opportunity to detect the drug can quickly pass. Also, law enforcement agencies may not be trained to gather necessary evidence and may not be using equipment that is sensitive enough to test for the drug.

Samantha Reid's Death

Samantha Reid (January 4, 1984 – January 17, 1999) was an American manslaughter victim, who lived in the Detroit, Michigan Metropolitan Area. She died at age 15 after being drugged surreptitiously with GHB. She, and another girl were poisoned by 3 young men who brought then cocktails, to which they had added either gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) or gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). Shortly after taking the drink, one girl stated that her face became numb and then both of the girls passed out, but the boys did not respond to this medical emergency. The drug continued its effects and soon the girls were having difficulty breathing. The boys eventually drove Samantha Reid to the hospital, but Samantha suffered respiratory arrest and stopped breathing on the way there and died eighteen hours later. The other girl was put on life-support. Had the one girl not abstained and drank a Mountain Dew instead of the cocktails, she might have also died and no one would have been the wiser. The three young men who poisoned them were found guilty of poisoning and involuntary manslaughter, while the older man who owned the apartment was found guilty of an accessory charge, and possession of GHB. They were sentenced to 5–15 years in prison. Reid's death inspired the legislation titled the Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 2000. March 13, 2000, Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) was placed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). President Clinton signed the Hillary J. Farias and Samatha Reed Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 1999 (Pub.L. 106-172) on February 18, 2000, directing DEA to issue a Final Order in the Federal Register placing GHB in Schedule I. This law categorized GHB as a Schedule I controlled substance according to the Controlled Substance Act.

National Protocol for Sexual Assault Exam

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ovw/241903.pdf

Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault

The number of drug-facilitated sexual assault is much more than the number reported to police because many women/men do not report the crime. Victims scruple to accuse because their memory is foggy. They may have no memory at all and only a sense that something happened. Or they may have been raped without ever knowing it. It is extremely difficult to prosecute the rapist. Traces of GHB and other commonly used so-called date-rape drugs vanish quickly from the body, leaving no evidence. Rapists notoriously deny the crime, saying the woman agreed to sex or that nothing happened at all. If a victim isn't coherent enough to consent, it's rape whether he or she knowingly or unknowingly took the drug. The most important witness to the crime - the victim -- was halfway or completely unconscious when the crime was committed.

GHB - Human Trafficking

On September 25, 2013 the Vancouver Sun (Canada) reported that a man, Reza Moazami did human trafficking of 11 girls — aged 14 to 19 — and forced them to work long hours as prostitutes and were subjected to intimidation, physical and sexual assaults and threats. As part of his method of controlling them, Moazami gave them almost unlimited and free access to “date rape drugs” like ketamine and GHB as well as cocaine, mushrooms, Ativan, OxyContin, Percocet, marijuana and alcohol. This was human trafficking by the use of GHB.

GHB History and Date Rape Drugs

GHB and Analogs: High Risk Club Drugs(2006) describes the history of GHB, why it was banned in 1991, and the dangers and complications that can result from using it. Marie Wolf

GHB Difficult to Detect

The use of GHB for sexual assault, human trafficking and prostitution is widespread. Victims often do not survive as an overdose of GHB causes respiratory arrest and looks like an asthma attack or heart attack. If GHB is not suspected, it will not be tested for and therefore missed on the emergency admission or the final autopsy. Hospitals do not routinely test for GHB in toxicology screening and the analysis must be sent to a special laboratory that does the testing – the FBI. Without an index of suspicion, testing for GHB is not done and the real cause of a GHB death never determined.

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References - GHB & Rape

GHB—sense and sociability The Lancet, Volume 365, Issue 9477, 18–24 June 2005, Page 2146

Petra S. van Nieuwenhuijzen, Iain S. McGregor Sedative and hypothermic effects of γ-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) in rats alone and in combination with other drugs: Assessment using biotelemetry Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 103, Issue 3, 1 August 2009, Pages 137-147

Ruben Thanacoody Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid Medicine, Volume 35, Issue 11, November 2007, Page 619

James Li, Sharon Arnaud Stokes, Anna Woeckener A Tale of Novel Intoxication: A Review of the Effects of γ-hydroxybutyric Acid With Recommendations for Management Annals of Emergency Medicine, Volume 31, Issue 6, June 1998, Pages 729-736

Matthew Dunn, Libby Topp, Louisa Degenhardt A 30-year-old woman with possible unknown ingestion of date rape drugs International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 20, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 413-417

M.K.S. Shbair, S. Eljabour, M. Lhermitte Drugs involved in drug-facilitated crimes: Part I: Alcohol, sedative-hypnotic drugs, gamma-hydroxybutyrate and ketamine. A review Annales Pharmaceutiques Françaises, Volume 68, Issue 5, September 2010, Pages 275-285

J.A. Hall, C.B.T. Moore Drug facilitated sexual assault – A review Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 5, July 2008, Pages 291-297

Deborah L. Zvosec, Stephen W. Smith, Trinka Porrata, A. Quinn Strobl, Jo Ellen Dyer Case series of 226 γ-hydroxybutyrate–associated deaths: lethal toxicity and trauma The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 29, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 319-332

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