CLUB AND “RAPE” DRUGS

MDMA (Ecstasy), GHB, Rohypnol, ketamine, methamphetamine, and LSD are considered club or party drugs. Club drugs are typically used by teens and young adults at all-night dance parties such as "raves" or "trances," clubs, and bars. Not only are these drugs dangerous to one’s own health, four of them have been known to be used as rape-facilitating drugs. Those four “rapists” drugs are MDMA, GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine.

Often, the raves where these drugs are used are promoted as alcohol-free events, which give parents a false sense of security that their children will be safe attending such parties. These parents are not aware that raves may actually be havens for the illicit sale and abuse of club drugs

Attendance at raves can range from 30 people in a small club to thousands in a stadium or open field. Because MDMA can cause users to involuntarily grind their teeth, ravers often chew on baby pacifiers or lollipops to offset this effect.

Additionally, ravers may use glowsticks and flashing lights to heighten the hallucinogenic properties of MDMA and visual distortions brought on by its use.

GHB, Rohypnol, Ketamine and Ecstasy (MDMA) remove memory, act as powerful muscle relaxants, and/or anesthetize the victims until they can not resist their assailants. The victim is then incapable of saying no – or anything else, for that matter.

Law enforcement agencies have cutting edge ways to trap and prosecute rapists who use drugs to facilitate their sexual assaults. They are putting these cowards and predators in prison for a lot of years. Further, our government is taking rape-facilitating drugs seriously. In Congress, lawmakers are creating sterner laws to help police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate, arrest, and prosecute rapists and other criminals using drugs to overpower victims.

One of the most visible “drug-facilitated rape” cases in our country recently put Max Factor heir and multimillionaire, Andrew Luster, behind bars for 124 years for drugging and raping three women. He was indicted on 87 charges, including poisoning and rape, and found guilty of 86 of them. Out on $1 Million bond, Luster ran to Mexico where he was apprehended by US Bounty Hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman. Luster lost his right to appeal by running so he will now live in a far less elegant address than he was accustomed to -- for 124 years.

Unscrupulous drug dealers – an oxymoron if I ever heard one – are now selling club and date rape drugs on the Internet. Naturally, they don’t send up a balloon offering “roofies” or “Ecstacy” or anything Mommies and Daddies might recognize. How about “computer cleaners guaranteed to be harmless if swallowed accidentally?”

Another good reason to have the family computer in full view of the entire family.

Some Myths and Facts about Club/“Rape Drugs”

MYTH: The victim will not remember what happened if they are raped.

FACT: The victim will sometimes wake up intermittently during the assault and have partial memories of it.

MYTH: The victim will never know they were raped.

FACT: The victim will realize they had sexual intercourse.

MYTH: They will just assume they had too much to drink and blacked out so the assault was their own fault.

FACT: Thanks to the wide spread educational news and crime reporting on the issue and prosecution of rapists using these drugs, many women will suspect being drugged and raped -- and know they are not at fault.

MYTH: The effects of the drugs can last for a few days after the assault so the victim will not be able to think clearly. All of the evidence will be gone by then.

FACT: Not always true. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are all capable of investigative techniques that now make evidence-gathering, prosecution and conviction of rape drug predators more possible than ever.

In 1996 the Drug Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act was passed which makes it a felony to give a controlled substance to anyone with the intent of committing sexual assault or any other crime. People convicted of rape using a rape-facilitating drug may be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison – or much longer, as Mr. Luster can tell you.