'Date rape drug' to be banned
2000-11-01 07:09
Pretoria - The popular date rape drug, gamma-hydroxide-butyric acid (GHB) - better
known as Liquid E - which is used mainly by rave dancers and body builders
will be declared illegal within the next month.
A dose of from one to five grams of this central-nervous system depressant
in an alcoholic drink or cold drink, will affect the victim within 15 to 30
minutes, and render them unconscious for at least three hours.
According to Superintendent Etienne van Zyl, head of the drug unit at the
police's forensic laboratory in Pretoria, GHB has replaced the stalwart,
Rohypnol, as the date rape drug of choice, because it can no longer be
traced in a victim's bloodstream after four hours.
Whereas Rohypnol can still be traced in the urine up to 72 hours later, there
is no sign of GHB in the victim's urine after 12 hours.
"The worst effect of GHB is that the victim loses consciousness competely -
it's like having sex with a corpse. She can not defend herself at all and
can also not remember what happened," van Zyl said.
Any layman can manufacture GHB in his own kitchen within a few minutes.
It is very dangerous because there is no quality control and nobody knows to what strength
the substance has been mixed.
According to van Zyl the police
have no estimate of how many date rapes occur, because no records are kept of this offence.
The police laboratory has investigated five cases of date rape in the past three
months, but could not trace substances such as Rohypnol and cetamine in
blood samples.
There is a possibility that victims were drugged by GHB, but the blood
samples were taken too long after the incident for the drug to be traced.
It is almost impossible to prove date rape in court, because the victims
remember nothing and cannot testify.
Semen, saliva and hair are no longer decisive in proving rape - the
complainant must prove that it happened without her consent.
What makes date rape so unfair, is that the element of choice is
taken away. Even if the victim wanted to say yes, she couldn't.
GHB was a widely used date rape drug in America and was banned there in
1990. By April this year, 65 deaths were associated with GHB in America,
600 deaths in 1996 and 900 in 1997.
The police hope that the proposed ban on the possession of GHB and the
substances with which to manufacture it, will prevent date rape and other
abuses taking hold in South Africa