By GINA BLASER
A new drug has been introduced into the United States that defies the imagination and is associated with date rape.
Rohypnol, known on the streets as roofies or roaches, is scaring authorities by its appalling effects on the body and the potential dangers it may have when the drug falls into the wrong hands.
Rohypnol is a potent tranquilizer similar to Valium, but many times stronger. The drug produces a sedative effect causing amnesia, muscle relaxation and a slowing of motor responses. Sedation occurs 20-30 minutes after administration and lasts for several hours. The pill is odorless, tasteless and dissolves quickly in a can of cola, according to an online Campus Law Enforcement Journal.
The drug is often distributed on the street in its original bubble packaging, which makes it appear legal. Rohypnol is being sold for as little as $2 to $4 per tablet, according to the journal.
The drug is produced in Mexico and Europe to treat sleep disorders. It is still the most widely prescribed sedative/hypnotic in Europe, but is not licensed for sale in the United States, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
The drug was found to cause a dependency and now the Drug Enforcement Agency is trying to get Rohypnol re-classified as a drug with no medical purpose, like heroin or LSD. Rohypnol is presently in the same class of drugs as marijuana, according to KRON-TV News Center 4, a San Francisco-based news program.
Rohypnol is often combined with alcohol to produce a rapid and dramatic high. It is being used illegally at fraternities and parties, where it is reportedly given to female-party participants in hopes of lowered inhibitions and facilitating a sexual conquest, according to the journal.
The amnesia-producing effect of Rohypnol may prevent users from remembering how or why they took the drug, or even that they were given it by others. This makes investigation of sexually-related or other offenses difficult and may account for repeated reports of date rapes involving the use of the drug, according to NIDA.
A story produced by News Center 4 KRON-TV said roofies were used during the rape of two 15-year-old girls in the San Francisco Bay area. The two girls went to an apartment complex to visit a friend. The girls only memory of the evening was they were drinking soda, they don't remember anything until around 5 a.m.
When the girls didn't return home, their parents became concerned and called police. When police entered the apartment, they found the two teen-age girls, a suspect and the drug Rohypnol.
Authorities believe the girls were given the drug and then raped. Officer Kim Chinn of the Prince Williams City Police said the victims don't even know what happened to them -- if anything happened to them.
Both law enforcement and drug counseling services caution that the use of Rohypnol is increasing and that additional quantities of it are being imported across the Mexican border, where it can be obtained by prescription, NIDA said.
'There are isolated cases that it has shown up in Utah, but none at BYU that we are aware of,' said Wayne Beck, University Police crime prevention specialist.
Drug abuse analysts warn that Rohypnol is just another in a long list of dangerous drugs being imported and pushed to the impressionable youth of this country.