Drugs a factor in sex assaults
2006-05-12 16:01
Washington - Drug use, wilful or
unwitting, is a factor in many sexual assaults and
significantly increases a woman's risk of unwanted sexual
contact, according to a study released on Thursday.
The study by researchers at the University of Illinois at
Chicago found that drugs were involved in 62 percent of
reported sexual assaults included in the study, and that in
most cases the victims had taken the drugs voluntarily.
Five percent of the victims were given so-called
"date-rape" drugs such as Rohypnol, a tranquilliser 10 times
more potent than Valium, the study said.
Adam Negrusz, lead author of the study, said drug use
raises the risk of sexual assault, whether or not alcohol has
been used.
"In some cases the substances are taken voluntarily by the
victims, impairing their ability to make decisions," Negrusz
said. "In other cases the substances are given to the victims
without their knowledge, which may decrease their ability to
identify a dangerous situation or to resist the perpetrator,"
he said in a statement.
Knowing the assailant
In about 80 percent of sexual assault cases, the victim
knows the assailant, he said.
Negrusz said that in the study drug-facilitated sexual
assault was more often due to the subject's own drug use,
rather than surreptitious drugging by the perpetrator.
The study, funded by the US National Institute of
Justice, an agency of the Justice Department, was based on
information collected from 144 victims of sexual assault who
sought help in clinics in California, Minnesota, Texas and
Washington state.
Each clinic collected urine and hair samples from the women
ranging in age from 18 to 56 who were also asked to describe
the assault and any drugs they were using. They represented
black, white and Hispanic ethnic backgrounds.
"The urine and hair specimens were analysed for about 45
drugs that have either been detected in sexual assault victims
or whose pharmacology could be exploited for drug-facilitated
sexual assaults," Negrusz said.
Nearly 62 percent of the women had at least one of the 45
drugs in their system, the study said.
Among those who voluntarily used a drug, 35 percent were
likely to have been impaired at the time of the sexual assault,
according to the research.
"It also demonstrated that sexual assault complainants
severely underreport their illegal drug usage," he said. "This
could be corrected if the administering nursing staff was
better educated on taking a truthful drug history."