MONDAY,OCT.8,2001
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Date-rape drugs tough to detect
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
Between Sept. 16 and Sept. 27, three women filed police reports because they thought their drinks had been drugged at a Lawrence bar.
Lawrence police Sgt. Mike Pattrick said drugs such as Rohynpol, a sedative Ketamine and GHB, were sometimes detected after such reports were filed.
After alcohol, those three drugs are the most common "date-rape drugs," said Randall Rock, physician at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
The drugs are odorless, colorless and tasteless, so it is difficult for people to know if their drinks have been drugged, Rock said.
Jessica Forman, Glencoe, Ill. freshman, said she had considered the possibility of her drink being drugged. She said to protect herself, she never left her drink unattended or accepted a drink unless she saw it poured into the glass.
Forman said she was familiar with the three main date-rape drugs. She said she had never been drugged.
"It's scary to think about," she said. "A lot of people wouldn't know where to go or what to do if they thought they'd been given something."
Rock said anyone who thought they'd been drugged should be tested for a date-rape drug.
He said Watkins doctors saw several students each semester who thought they had been given a date-rape drug.
But the tests, which are performed on blood and urine samples cost about $80 each. Checking for all three drugs could cost nearly $300.
Cathy Thrasher, chief pharmacist at Watkins, said those three drugs could remain in the system for up to 36 hours after they had been administered, depending on the amount of the dose and the size of the individual.
She said the tests were most effective when they were taken quickly, before the body could process and break down the drugs.
The three drugs are commonly used as date-rape drugs because they produce an amnesia-like state and a sense of timelessness.
Date rape drugs
Drug
Rohypnol
They may also cause blackouts. That makes it difficult for those given the drug to know exactly what happened while the drug was in their system.
Ketamine
GHB
Memory impairment hallucinations, out-of-body experiences and gear-death-like states
Memory impairment, heightened sexual awareness and drowsiness followed by unconsciousness
Thrasher said the drugs were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which meant they were illegal.
KYLE RAMSEY/KANSAN
Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, said anyone who believed they had been date raped or given a date-rape drug could go the center to get information or help.
She thought most of them came into the country from Mexico, because they were legal in other countries, such as Mexico and Canada.
The center also is looking for funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Violence Against Women Office to defer the cost of testing students for date-rape drugs.
Forman said she was glad to know there was a place on campus where students could go if they thought they had been drugged.
"We want women to feel protected and to feel that they don't have to live in fear," Rose-Mockry said.
The drugs do not have to be masked in alcohol, she said.
Thrasher said among the best advice she could give to those worried about date rape was never to accept a drink from anyone and not to drink anything they had not poured themselves.
The drugs are sometimes placed in nonalcoholic drinks, such as a glass of water.
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810
The Associated Press
Pope honors martyrs in front of thousands
VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II put seven people on the road to possible sainthood yesterday, beatifying a victim of the Nazis, an Armenian archbishop killed by the Ottoman Turks and five founders or members of religious orders.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered in a bright St. Peters' Square and cheered as the names of those who joined the ranks of the beatified were read out and their images unveiled on tapestries hung from the basilica.
The other martyr beatified yesterday was Ignazic Maloyan, an Armenian archbishop killed in 1915 during the Ottoman campaign to force Armenians out of eastern Turkey. The pope paid tribute to the victims of the campaign during his recent trip to Armenia.
Among them was Nikolaus Gross, a German father of seven who voiced opposition to the Nazis and edited a Catholic workers' newspaper that was shut down by the regime. Gross was executed in 1945 in a German prison.
Also recognized were Alfonso Maria Fusco, Italian founder of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist; Tommasso Maria Fusco, the Italian founder of the Institute of the Daughters of Charity of the Precious Blood; Emilie Tavernier Gamelin, founder of the Sisters of Providence of Montreal; Eugenia Picco, an Italian-born member of the Little Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Maria; and Maria Euthymia Ueffing, a German member of the Sisters of Mercy.
With yesterday's ceremony, John Paul II has beatified 1,267 people — part of his effort to give the faithful many role models. He has elevated more than 450 to sainthood. In comparison, in the previous four centuries, 1,310 candidates were beatified and 300 raised to sainthood.
Because they did not die as martyrs, those five needed to have a miracle attributed to their intercession for them to be beatified. A second miracle is required for them to be made a saint.
The pope, 81, appeared well-rested, happily greeted bishops who came to kiss his ring and speaking clearly in several languages. He read from a podium that rested on the armrests of his chair, rather than from papers held in his hands, which tremble in a symptom of Parkinson's disease.
"Our renowned brothers, now elevated to the glory of the exulted, knew how to translate their indomitable faith in Christ into an extraordinary experience of love toward God and service to their neighbors," John Paul II told the crowd.
John Paul II also issued a threefold prayer yesterday, directed at the victims of a Black Sea plane crash last week and the terrorist attacks in the United States, as well as peace efforts in Colombia. He spoke before the United States and Britain launched attacks on targets in Afghanistan.
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English Alternative Theatre & Card Table Theatre present Two Death-Defying Acts By KU Playwrights!
Directed by Jeremy Auman Designed by Kaye Miller
"Running With The Big Dogs by Nathan K. Gonzales
and "Mourning Glorie" by Kirby Fields
8 PM Oct. 12-13
11 PM Oct. 13
2:30 PM Oct. 14
Lawrence Arts Center Ninth & Vermont $5 General Admission at the Door
Participating Entries in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
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