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Hey,
isn't GHB that date-rape drug?
The short answer is no. By frequency, the
date-rape drug is undoubtedly the venerable ethane hydroxide - alcohol, which has been
used since time immemorial to cloud the judgment and lower the defenses
of both sexes. Another likely candidate is Rohypnol® (flunitrazepam),
a legal and popular tranquilizer in most countries outside the US. It has received much media attention lately for its ability to (sometimes) leave
the victim awake but unable to remember anything that occurs while affected by it.
However, the spiking of drinks with GHB has
been growing in notoriety as a date-rape facilitator [16],[50]. Routine testing of victims only began recently (March 1997), and I
have been unable to find only very spotty data on its use. A single study [143] analyzed samples (presumably of blood) from 578 rape victims, and determined that 32 (~6%) had GHB in their systems. This unfortunately proves nothing, and never will be able to. There is no way of knowing how many of these women might have taken GHB recreationally, something they might be understandably reluctant to report if they were trying to build a criminal case. The article only reports five positive tests for Rohypnol®, which is similarly difficult to interpret as it, too, is used recreationally.
Despite extravagant claims by ill-informed popular sources, GHB is hardly a magic rape drug in any case. The inebriation* it produces is hardly preternaturally
incapacitating - the cognitive impairment is reported to be less severe than alcohol. A dose producing unarousable
sleep would require the villain to literally carry his prey out, and do
the deed with the possibility of their awakening to full consciousness
at any time. The greatest danger is that this reputation will lead to more
attempts, meaning more people will be unwittingly consuming GHB mixed with
alcohol, and neither drug shows a worse face than under those circumstances.
The most commonly cited case of GHB as a rape drug is that of Hillory Farias [61]. Ironically, this case did not involve rape and there is mounting evidence that she did not ingest GHB at all! For more information, see her eponymous section of this FAQ.
The research cited here does point to three important, if less dramatic conclusions: Don't incapacitate yourself when vulnerable to assault, watch your drink, and don't suffer people who make you feel unsafe.
Next Segment: Is GHB toxic? Addictive? Dangerous?
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