Who'da thunk there were that many drugs....

[Staggerlee]

@SusanStoHelit

I was at a rave-ish thing (it had security at it, but wasn’t a regular club either) once with a bar downstairs and the dance floor upstairs. A guy (obviously on something) started to chat me up and offered to buy me a drink. I was 18, he was a stranger, and who wants to drink alcohol at a rave anyway? I said no. He went downstairs and came back up with a martini (I think) for me. I said no, he insisted, and I said no again. He huffed for a while, then drank it himself.

A few minutes later I went into the lobby to cool off, and out come 2 security guards with Mr Martini between them. You could see in his eyes that he was aware, but I don’t think he could move at all. The guards took him outside and sat him on the curb, where he kind of slumped over. I watched him for about 10 minutes then went back inside to dance.

I don’t know what happened to him because he was gone when I came out. Most of me hopes that a friend took him home, but there is a small, evil part of me that hopes that he was shown a good time by some friendly neighborhood rapist. At least as good as the one he was planning on showing me.

I’d say that really is an evil part of you wishing rape on this bloke. Why would a date-rape-druggist drink a drink that he had just spiked? More likely explanation would be that intoxicated bloke gets on a downer from a girl rejecting him and finally succumbs to the booze he has had in plucking up the courage to chat to girls, before being ejected for being too comatose, and trying to steady his spinning head on the kerb… I’m not having a go, just saying that overdosing on booze accounts for a lot of trouble too.

[Alpine]

@WhyNot

I think the wiser thing would be to mandate a bittering agent be put into the most common date rape drugs, and perhaps a glows-under-blacklight chemical so that a person can tell when their drink has been spiked.

I think this is an excellent, practical suggestion and I’m thinking about writing my congressional reps about it today.

[Caffeine.addict]

@Alpine

I think this is an excellent, practical suggestion and I’m thinking about writing my congressional reps about it today.

Perhaps, except that most of them are illegal anyway. GHB has been illegal for quite some time as is Ketamine, I believe.

[WhyNot]

@brujo

Perhaps, except that most of them are illegal anyway. GHB has been illegal for quite some time as is Ketamine, I believe.

GHB is indeed illegal, but Ketamine is a legal (prescription) drug used in humans and animals, and " the only known source of Ketamine is via diversion of pharmaceutical products."

[Alpine]

@brujo

Perhaps, except that most of them are illegal anyway. GHB has been illegal for quite some time as is Ketamine, I believe.

I thought of that later. D’oh! However, I’m still going to look into it.

[Alpine]

Here’s what I found out from the US Dept of Health & Human Services.

*Rohypnol is NOT legal in the U.S. It is legal in Europe and Mexico and prescribed for sleep problems and as an anesthetic (medicine given during surgery so you don't feel pain). It is brought into the U.S. illegally.
*Ketamine is legal in the U.S. for use as an anesthetic for humans and animals. It is mostly used on animals. Veterinary clinics are robbed for their Ketamine supply.
*GHB was recently made legal in the U.S to treat problems from narcolepsy (a sleep problem).

Also, from a bbc news article here

Hoffman-Roche, the company that manufactures the drug, revised the formula in January 1998 to make it easier to detect.

It now contains a blue dye that will appear when it is added to any drink, and it is slower to dissolve.

However, there are still counterfeit versions of the drug that don’t have the dye.

So, sounds like velcro-ing a sippy cup to your hand is the best option.

[Otto]

@Alpine

So, sounds like velcro-ing a sippy cup to your hand is the best option.

About a year ago I heard a story on internet radio about a guy in England who invented a drink protector after his daughter’s drink was spiked (nothing else bad happened to her though). I was trying to find a pic of it online but nothing’s coming up.