According to a report released in March by the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), almost two per cent of female students in Nicosia aged between 18 and 24 have suffered date rape.
The findings were part of a MIGS transnational project entitled “Date Rape Cases Among Young Women and the Development of Good Practices for Support and Prevention”, funded by the European Commission.
“The main aim of the project is to investigate the incidence of date rape among female college students (aged 18-24) in the partner countries and assess the attitude, and level of awareness among beneficiaries and target groups,” the MIGS report explained.
A total of 476 Cypriot female students responded to an anonymous questionnaire, and although the report did not specify how many of them had been assaulted through the use of ‘date-rape’ drugs, it did highlight the dangers. “Most of these drugs are suppressants and are easily diluted in drinks (e.g. coffee, alcohol, juice). They take approximately 20 minutes to act and their action lasts about eight to10 hours,” the report said.
ROSIE an attractive, petite 25-year-old single mum doesn’t go in for bar hopping, or nights spent boozing and clubbing.
“I have a young daughter. I also work and the money isn’t there to spend in bars, so that night I went out was only because a friend had come over from the UK for a holiday,” she said. “We went off to have a few drinks at a bar in the tourist area in Paphos. I only had two drinks, and one of these was a free drink offered by the landlord.”
Within 20 minutes after the second drink Rosie was in the toilet being violently sick and feeling terribly dizzy.
“The experience scared the living daylights out of me. I was so scared but really unable to do much as I felt so tired.
“My friend hadn’t touched her drink so she helped me out of the toilet and we left to go home. Two foreign men came along as we were sitting on a wall. By this time I couldn’t walk properly but, just as they started to come over to us, a young Cypriot lad came up and asked if we needed any help. By this time I was in such a state that my friend then phoned my mother in the UK and told her my symptoms. Mum told her to get me to the hospital fast,” she said.
The Cypriot man took them both in his car to the hospital where Rosie was carried into the emergency department.
Rosie can remember little of what happened then, but her friend told her later that doctors immediately decided she was drunk.
“The thing is, I’ve never felt that bad or been that violently sick in all my life and I only had two drinks. I was sent home and it took me three days to get out of my bed, I was so badly ill. It was like the worse ever flu.
“I knew something had been given to me, but I couldn’t prove who, or where it happened. If my friend hadn’t been there, God knows what would have happened to me. Even worse, if she had drunk her drink, then I know we would both have been in trouble.”
Since her ordeal, Rosie has learned to keep an eagle eye on her drinks.
“I’d never let my drink out of my sight now. In fact I’d only ever drink out of a bottle, not a glass and that bottle I’d hold on to very tightly. I never want to go through that hellish experience again.”
Her experience has taught her also that women in these circumstances can expect little sympathy or understanding from the authorities.
“The thing is if you go to the hospital they will naturally think you are pissed, same with the police. So women really can’t expect help. They have to protect themselves and their drinks at all times,” she said.
Margaret, 32 a striking blonde, enjoys going out on a Friday night to her local pub. On one such night last year she was sexually assaulted under similar circumstances to Rosie.
“I had come out of the bar to get some fresh air as I had suddenly started to feel really sleepy, so badly I couldn’t keep my eyes open. My whole body seemed to have gone somewhere else. It was like I wasn’t there and sort of floating away from everything.
“I hadn’t even been drinking alcohol as it was a very hot nigh and all I wanted was an iced coke so it wasn’t alcohol related.
She went of the door and around the back as she thought she was going to be sick.
“The man must have followed me out and as I was bent over he came up behind me and started to touch me and pull at my dress. He pushed me up against some rubbish bins, but I was in such a state of blind panic I couldn’t even scream. I fell down and then I must have blacked out.”
Margaret was saved from worse abuse by a worker from one of the restaurants coming over to deposit rubbish, and the man ran.
The police were called, but she could neither give a description of the man nor indeed remember very much about what happened. She like Rosie then spent two days in bed with what she also described as terrible flu symptoms.
For both police and medical staff – used to seeing on a regular basis young women drunk on vodka and red bull – determining those who have been drugged from those who are just plain drunk is indeed a difficult task. Only a sophisticated blood test would determine the truth.
With the police all too ready to assume a drugged woman is merely drunk, at present it remains down to the women to take all the precautions they possibly can.
All of the ‘Date Rape’ drugs currently available have the following in common.
They are virtually undetectable, are tasteless, odourless and colourless.
Traces of the drugs will usually have left the body within 72 hours of being ingested.
Routine toxicology and blood tests won’t be sophisticated enough to pick up the presence of these drugs in a person’s system.
Victims will have a short time (20mins) before they start to act in an uninhibited manner and be sexually provocative. With no memory of what is happening to them, they cannot then be witnesses in a court case.
Rohypnol
Street names: the ‘forget me pill’, Rophy, Roofie, Forget it, Mexican valium, Roach
A prescription sedative/ depressant comes in pill form. Acts within 20 minutes and without alcohol the effects last for up to 12 hours. With alcohol the effects last up to 36 hours. Victims will experience amnesia, drowsiness, dizziness, sickness, urinary retention, visual impairment. Can be purchased on the street for around two euros a tab.
Gamma Hydroxyl Butyrate (GHB)
Street names: Get her to Bed, Easy Lay, Liquid ecstasy, Ellie, Scoop Her
An odourless, colourless liquid that looks exactly like water, it depresses and anesthetises the central nervous system. Made in illegal drug labs or concocted with ease by amateur chemists at home using readily available ingredients and a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry. GHB takes effect 10-15 minutes after swallowing. The effects last for 3-6 hours when not taken with alcohol, 36-72 hours if mixed with alcohol. Victims will feel euphoria, nausea, amnesia, visual hallucinations, severe respitory depression, and nausea. In higher doses common side effects are unconsciousness, seizures and coma.
Ketamine Hydrochloride
Street names: Special K, Kid Rock, Make Her Mine, K.O.,Vitamin K.
A legal drug sold as a veterinary sedative, looks like an off white powder and when diluted looks like slightly cloudy water. When used on humans the drugs acts as a dissociative anesthesia, making the victim feel comfortably removed from all bodily sensations.
If taken orally or nasally the drug takes about 10-20 minutes to take effect.
Taken intravenously the drug acts instantly, with effects lasting fewer than three hours. The drug is detectable in the system for up to 48 hours. Victims suffer delirium, respiratory depression, confusion, vertigo, slurred speech, amnesia, ataxia, and coma.
Date rape in America has now become so serious university students are being advised to always use ‘Drink Safe Strips’ when out socialising. These strips change colour when they are dipped in a drink contaminated with any of the date rape drugs, working exactly like those litmus papers you used in chemistry classes.
This year 6000 ‘Drink Safe’ bottle caps were imported into Greece. These are basically secure tabs that can be secured at the top of each bottle. Caps are impossible to remove and equally difficult to then surreptitiously spike a drink as the opening is only big enough to hold a straw.
