Scientists Develop Date Rape Drug Detector

August 5th, 2011

Wondering if your drink is hiding a little something extra? Pretty soon, you may be able to find out if your drink has been drugged by swirling a straw.
Scientists at Tel Aviv University recently developed a straw-like sensor that reacts with chemicals in ketamine or GHB, two drugs commonly used in date rape incidents. If either of these drugs is present in the drink, a red light will be activated by the chemical reaction.

GHB caused a wave of anxiety due to its involvement in a high-profile poisoning case back in 2000. President Clinton signed the Date-Rape Drug Prohibition Act in that year, making it a Schedule 1 drug. It has since come to be known as the “date-rape drug”, as its lack of odor or color makes it difficult to notice when slipped into a drink. Ketamine, an animal anesthetic, is a heavy sedative like GHB.

While this new drug detector is very accurate, its utility has been questioned. Despite the attention paid to date rape drugs, assaults involving GHB or ketamine may not be very common at all. Specific statistics are difficult to track down, however, since authorities treat them no differently than assaults involving alcohol or any other drug.

What is known is that drinking is strongly linked with sexual assault. It’s been reported that 68% of college students who committed some form of sexual aggression (rape, harassment, etc.) were under the influence of alcohol at the time; similarly, 75% of students who were raped were intoxicated at the time. So while knowing the contents of your drink is a start, it may be better not to have one at all.