Date rape drugs include a class of drugs that function to cause someone to go to sleep, to lose inhibition, and to pass out. Historically, these drugs range from alcohol and prescription pain pills to LSD and ketamine. Often, date rape can occur simply when the perpetrator knowingly gets someone so drunk that they are unable to say no or too incapacitated to fight back. This tactic, such as asking the bartender to serve someone doubles when they order, is more common than using Rohypnol or another harder-to-find drug.
Therefore, it’s important to be on your guard when getting drunk, feeling tipsy, or getting drunk faster than you think you should be when out alone or with a stranger. If someone is acting very inebriated with someone who doesn’t appear to be a close friend or to know that person very well, it’s also a warning sign that that person could be in danger. At the same time, date rape drugs are also used and are often significantly more dangerous than alcohol.
What Are the Most Common Date Rape Drugs?
Any drug that causes sedation can be a date rape drug. This makes opioids like heroin prescription pain pills, Xanax, and even alcohol risk intoxicants. However, today, the drugs most commonly used for sexual assault of an unsuspecting date or person at a bar or club include ketamine, Rohypnol, and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB).
These drugs are marked by fast-acting effects, are often exacerbated by alcohol, and are relatively tasteless and colorless. That makes them the primary choices for perpetrators looking to sneak them into drinks without being noticed. At the same time, all three function to quickly incapacitate their victims, versus alcohol and opioids which can take significant time to do so. Many also interfere with memory, cause blackouts, or prevent the individual from saying no to a situation they would otherwise avoid.
What do Date Rape Drugs Do?
All date rape drugs achieve a single goal, to put the victim in a position where the perpetrator can assault them. This is true whether the perpetrator uses alcohol, prescription pain pills, or Rohypnol. Here, “date rape” drugs achieve multiple negative consequences for the victim, including:
- Lowering inhibitions and creating vulnerability that would not be present when sober
- Reducing threat awareness
- Decreasing the ability to fight back or run away in case of an assault
- Increasing the ability to coerce the individual because they are not thinking clearly or are focused on feelings of nausea, dizziness, or being high
- Creating a situation where the victim is comatose or near comatose and therefore fully incapacitated
Drugs and alcohol impair the ability to think clearly, to analyze a situation, and to respond appropriately to a threat. A person who is intoxicated is less likely to notice being put into situations that could be dangerous, less likely to notice intentions of aggression, and less likely to notice when being manipulated or controlled. Therefore, even someone who is very drunk and in a state where an assailant can manipulate them into leaving alone and with no one to see where they are going is considered being influenced by a date rape drug.
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Symptoms of Date Rape Drugs
Most people who have been handed a date rape drug will act as though intoxicated and more so than is normal for being out. This can be difficult to notice, especially if the people involved habitually use drugs. People who do habitually use drugs are also unfortunately most at risk of being targeted for sexual assault because they are more vulnerable, more likely to be in situations that create vulnerability, and more likely to be exposed to risk.
Very common symptoms of most date rape drugs include:
- Euphoria
- Feelings of power and togetherness
- Detachment
- Disassociation
- Disorientation
- Audio/visual hallucinations
- Respiratory depression
- Nausea/vomiting
- Memory gaps / blacking out
- Impaired motor controls
- Impaired cognition
Specific date rape drugs have very similar effects on the victim.
For example:
GHB
GHB is a colorless and tasteless liquid, most often used to “spike” a drink. This may be done by someone who’s entered the bar or club with the victim or someone they ran into by chance. The effects of GHB normally mimic extreme inebriation, which can be difficult to notice if also drinking heavily
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness/vertigo
- Reduced heart rate
- Nausea
- Memory gaps
- Passing out
In large doses, GHB puts the victim at risk of seizures, coma, and even death. In most cases, the victim will also wake up with little or no memory of the entire period between when the drug took effect and when it wore off.
Ketamine
Ketamine is very often sold as crystal or powder, which can be dissolved in a drink. Aggressors may also put it into cocaine or into another drug, where it’s unlikely to be noticed.
- Hallucinations
- Aggression
- Agitation
- Shaking, tremors, or convulsions
- Loss of coordination
- Reduction in respiration/difficulty breathing
- Passing out
- Inability to grasp the sense of time or of self (e.g., forgetting who they are)
In large doses, ketamine can cause temporary paralysis where the person is awake and able to remember everything, but unable to move. People in this state are at a very high risk of choking and cardiac arrest. Getting to the hospital immediately can be lifesaving.
Rohypnol
Rohypnol or flunitrazepam is a sleeping aid and probably the most famous date-rape drug. While heavily controlled today, it’s still used to commit assault. These drugs are normally available as a pill but are also frequently powered and put into drinks.
- Reduced blood pressure
- Dizziness
- Lethargy or drowsiness
- Loss of muscle control
- Visual hallucinations/visual disturbances
- Difficulty speaking
- Memory lapses
- Nausea
Here, victims will often act extremely inebriated, but it may be impossible to differentiate from having consumed a very large quantity of alcohol. The victim may black out and will likely have little or no memory of the period between when the drug took effect and when it wore off.
Getting Help
1 in 5 women and 1 in 6 men have been sexually assaulted, and more than 70% of those include drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, most cases of date rape are not as clear-cut as using a substance to spike a drink. Instead, alcohol, knowing drug consumption, and mixing drugs and alcohol on purpose are equally likely to be contributors. No matter the case, it’s important to pay attention to inebriation and intoxication, to take steps to tell someone and to get help if you are in a situation where you start to feel more drunk or high than you should be and to get involved if someone appears to be too drunk or intoxicated.
Asana Recovery offers detox, residential, and outpatient addiction treatment services at our center located in Orange County, California. Please contact us today to speak with one of our experienced addiction treatment team if you have any questions about our programs.
