6A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
DATE-RAPEDRUG
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2002
GHB
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Lawrence police Sgt. Mike Pattrick said Lawrence police found GHB inside his car. Carpenter is scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing in January.
About half of the college-aged women who come to Douglas County Rape Victim-Survivor Service for assistance think they were drugged, said Sarah Jane Russell, executive director.
GHB FACTS
**description** — An oolioess, oolioess liquid ocea white powder that can be ingested with a drink, usually alcohol. Body builders sometimes use GHB because of its muscle-building effects.
Last year, the organization helped 130 women from Douglas County. But none of the women who went to a hospital tested positive for date-rape drugs. Most of the women were tested after the 12-hour window that provides the most accurate results, she said.
Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Street names — Liquid Ecstasy, Soapo, Easy Lay and Liquid X.
Effects — In lower doses, GHB causes amnesia; drowsiness, dizziness and nausea. In higher doses, the drug causes unconsciousness, seizures and respiratory problems. A coma could occur and overdoses usually require emergency treatment.
Agent Roland, who specializes in club drugs, said the drug was often used to reach a high level of intoxication without the side effects from alcohol.
Roland said one of his frequent sources told him that one case of the four Roland has worked this year in the Wichita area may have involved "scooping," or slipping GHB into someone's drink unknowingly. The tip was never confirmed, he said, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.
"I am confident that GHB had been used in several reported and unreported tapes throughout Kansas," he said.
Law enforcement officials say GHB is common in the club scene, but Barton County Sheriff Buck Causey says it's in small towns, too.
Causey said his office investigated about 15 cases of GHB use in the last five years in Barton County, a county in the center of Kansas with a population of about 29,000. Most of the drug use is at the local high school and community college, he said.
"It's a problem. Not just in Barton County," Causey said. "It's probably more of a problem than law enforcement realizes because
Causey said a juvenile was currently suspected of drugging and raping another juvenile in Barton County.
Rohypnoi
GHB and three similar forms of the drug called analogs are usually slipped into alcoholic drinks as a liquid, but powdered forms are available.
Description — An olive green, oblong tablet that can either be taken orally or crushed and snorted. The makers of the drug say the tablet now includes a dye that will be visible if it is slipped into a drink.
The drug is hard to detect, KBI special agent Roland said, because it leaves only a slight salty taste that is easily disguised in many alcoholic drinks.
of the nature of the drug.
Hard to detect
Rape-survivor advocates agree it is hard to frack GHB's use.
"We know it happens," said Tiffany Miller, sexual assault advocacy coordinator at the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence in Topeka. "We have no clue how often it's happening. That's one of the problems."
OTHER DATE-RAPEDRUGS
Street names — R-2, Mexican Valium; rophies, roofies and circles.
Effects — Amines, decreased blood pressure, drowsiness, dizziness and confusion.
Description — A clear liquid or a white powder that can be injected, consumed in drinks or added to smokable materials. Ketamine is a tranquilizer that is most commonly used on animals.
Ketamine
"It's not that I've stopped going out drinking, but I'll never let a waitress bring me a drink. Watch your drink being made from beginning to end. Don't let it out of your sight. Because you really just never know."
Street names — Special K, K, cat Valium, jet and super acid Effects — Amnesia, depression and long-term memory difficulties. Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Because GHB leaves the body after 12 hours, there is only a small window to perform a drug test. GHB, which is 10 times more potent than Valium, disappears faster than other date-rape drugs such as rohypnol and ketamine. Miller said.
GHB can cause dizziness, nausea, muscle weakness, feelings of extreme intoxication, blackouts and amnesia.
"Within 15 minutes, the drug causes symptoms," Miller said. "The victim is also awake and can carry on a conversation. For two or three hours, she would appear coherent and awake."
But the victim will not even
Amy Brady
Touke sukin
Heard on the Hill
Should students be concerned about date-rape drugs? H.
"I always get my own drink. I've seen it happen to people. I know it's out there."
Emily Reece
St. Louis junior
"I don't see me putting myself in that situation to begin with. I've never personally seen it as a problem."
Kristen Novak,
Dallas sophomore
"As my friends started to experience it, the possibility has always been in the back of my mind." Nikki Polley. Plymouth, Minn., junior
"I don't really think about it. It's not like I watch my drink every time I go out.Maybe I should."
"I worry about it a lot less since I'm not a woman. I definitely think it's out there. It's something everyone should worry about." Bryan Seck, Wichita junior
remember the earlier hours of the evening, she said.
Laura Obrycki,
Ames, Iowa, sophomore
"It's already out of the blood and this person might not have even been sexually assaulted yet," Miller said. "Often the rapist acts as the rescuer and takes the seemingly drunk girl home."
What follows may be about eight hours of extremely heavy sleep, Miller said.
With no physical evidence of the drugging, a rape victim is left with only what she may remember.
When the woman wakes up, she may already be past the window for testing.
"Now you have a woman who wakes up." Miller said. "She may feel a little sick, a little hung over, or maybe not. She may be in her own bed or not. There's a lot of confusion."
"Reporting this type of rape is low." Miller said.
Others may not know the drug's symptoms or could be
Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center in Strong Hall, said she had counseled women who had thought they were drugged. Although they talk about going to the police, many women don't report the crime.
"They may think they weren't in victim, but that's not true." Rose-Mockry said. "A woman may choose to have a couple of drinks, but that doesn't entitle someone to rape her."
She said some blamed themselves.
afraid of reactions from family, friends and police, she said.
She said victims might also be afraid of the court process.
Hard to prosecute
Fear keeps many sex crime victims out of the courtroom, said Scott Toth, director of Johnson County District Attorney's sex crime unit.
"Police in our office have had strong suspicions about the use of GHB, but because of things like delayed reporting it wasn't charged," he said.
In 14 years as a sex crime prosecutor, Toth has never prosecuted a sex crime that involved a date rape drug.
A drug-facilitated rape case would present issues that would be difficult for a jury to believe. Toth said.
If the victim is unable to recount the events that led to the attack, it would make testimony less believable in court, he said.
Hard to prevent
Brady, the Topeka senior who was dragged last summer, said she didn't file a police report because she was leaving the country for her trip to France-within days.
She does talk about her experience at the bar with friends.
"I think people should know about it," she said. "This is a place where a lot of people go."
Brady said she could not have prevented the dragging.
RAPE RESOURCE CENTERS
Counselling and Psychological Services
2100 Watkins Memorial Health Center
864-2277
Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
22 Strong Hall
864-3552
Lawrence Memorial Hospital
325 Maine St.
749-6100
Rape Victims Survivor Service
1419 Massachusetts
2518 Ridge Ct. Suite 211
841-2345
Women's Transitional Care Services
PO. Box 633
843-3333
"I thought I was taking all those precautions, and this still happened to me," Brady said.
The experience has changed her habits, she said.
"It's not that we stopped going out drinking, but I'll never let a waitress bring me a drink," she said. "Watch your drink being made from beginning to end. Don't let it out of your sight. Because you really just never know."
Edited by Ryan Malashock
Contact Michelle Burhenn at mburhenn@kansan.com
GHB, a drug which can be slipped into drinks, is an elusive drug which is not detectable in the victim's body after 12 hours. The district attorney's office in Douglas County is prosecuting its first drug-facilitated sex offense, but many rape survivor advocates say it isn't the first time it has happened in Douglas County.
Kansas photo illustrations by Courtney Kulten