Alcohol and Date Rape Drugs

View the Alcohol & Date Rape Drugs Power Topic

What’s Ahead:

  • What are date rape drugs?
  • How do date rape drugs and alcohol affect the body?
  • What steps can I take to be safer in social situations?
  • Are there ways to tell if I may have been drugged and raped?
  • What can I do if I am sexually assaulted?
  • What can I do if I experience or witness sexual harassment?

Clarifying “Date Rape”

  • Also called “Acquaintance Rape”
  • The person who commits the crime might not be in a relationship, or on a date, with the victim
  • Someone who commits date rape can be:
    • Someone you know well
    • Someone you know through friends
    • Someone you just met

What are Date Rape Drugs?

  • Any type of drug or alcohol used to make rape or sexual assault easier
  • Can make a person:
    • Confused about what is happening
    • Less able to defend themselves against unwanted sexual contact
    • Unable to remember what happened
  • If you’ve been sexually assaulted, it is never your fault

What are the Most Common Date Rape Drugs?

  • Most often alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs
  • Someone could use any type of drug to overpower a victim or make them not remember an assault:
    • Marijuana, cocaine
    • Prescription drugs like antidepressants or tranquilizers
    • Over-the-counter drugs like sleeping aids
  • Other date rape drugs include:
    • flunitrazepam (Rohypnol): white tablet or light green pill
    • gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB): liquid or powder
    • gamma-butyrolactone (GBL): liquid
    • ketamine: clear liquid or white powder
  • Sometimes called “club drugs” because of use at dance clubs, concerts, bars, or parties. Nicknames may change over time or be different in different areas.

What Do Date Rape Drugs Look Like?

  • Many look like regular substances and are often undetectable in drinks:
    • Rohypnol, GHB, GBL, and ketamine may look like pills, liquid, or powders
    • Often have no color, no smell, and no taste when added to a drink or food
  • If someone adds a date rape drug to a drink, it may change the color of a clear drink or make your drink look cloudy:
    • But changes can be hard to see if the drink is dark or if the room is dark
    • You can’t always tell if a drug has been added to your drink just by looking at it or tasting it

Talk About It

  • Have you heard of any date rape drugs and their names that you want to share?
  • Are there any other things a perpetrator might do to make rape or sexual assault easier?

How are Date Rape Drugs Used?

  • Someone can use date rape drugs or alcohol to overpower you so you do not know what is happening or remember the assault
  • Sometimes date rape drugs are put into a drink without you knowing
  • Or, you may be drinking alcohol or taking a drug, but someone else makes it stronger without you knowing
  • Examples: Clubs, bars, parties, concerts, any social events

How Do Date Rape Drugs/Alcohol Affect the Body?

  • Can affect you very quickly, and you might not know that something is wrong
  • The length of time that the effects last varies
  • Depends on:
    • How much of the drug is in your body
    • If the drug is mixed with other drugs or alcohol
  • Alcohol can make the effects of drugs even stronger and can cause serious health problems or death

Drugs such as Rohypnol, GHB, GBL, and ketamine are very powerful.

Date rape drugs or too much alcohol can make you:

  • Dizzy
  • Have problems talking or slurred speech
  • Have trouble moving or controlling your muscles
  • Feel nauseous or vomit
  • Have a very slow or very fast heartbeat
  • Sleepy
  • Confused
  • Have trouble breathing
  • Pass out

Drugs and alcohol can cause problems thinking, making decisions, and remembering what happened.

How is Alcohol Linked to Sexual Assault?

  • People who use date rape drugs or alcohol to commit sexual assault most often use alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs. They may:
    • Use alcohol as a way to make someone drunk and unable to consent, understand what is happening, or remember the assault
    • Take advantage of someone who has already been drinking or pressure them to drink more than they might normally drink
    • Use drugs to increase the alcohol’s effects. Drinking alcohol and taking drugs at the same time increases the risk of sexual assault.

If you are drunk or passed out you cannot give consent for sexual activity! Without consent, any sexual activity is illegal, no matter how much you had to drink, if you took drugs, or how old you are!

What Steps Can I Take to be Safer in Social Situations?

  • Be aware of drinks in punchbowls or other containers that can be easily “spiked” (alcohol or another drug added to a drink without permission).
  • Don’t accept drinks from other people. If someone offers to get you a drink, go with the person to get your drink. Watch your drink as it is poured and carry it yourself.
  • Open your drink yourself. Keep control of it at all times.
  • Don’t drink anything that smells strange. Stop drinking any drink that tastes strange. Some date rape drugs may taste salty or bitter but most are tasteless and odorless.
  • Don’t drink more than you want to just because someone else wants you to. Don’t drink more than you want to so that someone else will like you or be impressed.
  • Get help right away if you feel drunk and haven’t had any alcohol or if you feel like the effects of drinking alcohol are stronger than usual.
  • Find a friend who can help you get to a safe place. Make sure this is not someone who could have spiked your drink.
  • Look out for your friends and ask them to look out for you. You can play a powerful role in helping other people stay safe:
    • If a friend seems out of it, seems much too drunk for the amount of alcohol they drank, is acting out of character, or seems too drunk to stay safe in general, get them to a safe place
    • Ask your friends to do the same for you
  • Learn more from the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAIIN) about how you can help prevent sexual assault as a bystander
  • If you think someone has drugged you or a friend: 
    • Call 911 or go to a hospital emergency room
    • Even though it may be difficult, it is important to tell a doctor or nurse what happened and that you might have been drugged so they can test for the right drugs.

Talk About It

  • Have you observed anyone experiencing the effects of a date rape drug?
  • What else can you suggest to be safer in social situations and to look out for friends?

Are There Ways To Tell if I Might Have Been Drugged and Raped?

  • Date rape drugs can:
    • Make you feel drunk even if you haven’t drunk any alcohol
    • Make you feel like the effects of drinking alcohol are much stronger than usual or more than you expect
    • Affect your memory and make it difficult to tell if you were drugged and raped. You might not be aware of an attack until many hours later, or you may not remember what happened
  • You might have been drugged and raped if:
    • You don’t know why your clothes are on wrong, torn, or have unusual stains. Or, you wake up without clothes and don’t remember taking them off.
    • Your body feels like you had sexual contact, but you cannot remember it
    • You have unexpected bruises, bleeding, pain, scrapes, or cuts, especially after waking up after a party, date, or other social event
  • If you notice any of these signs and also wake up having no memory of a period of time, or remember having a drink but cannot recall anything after that, you may have been drugged and assaulted.
  • Know these signs from Forensics for Survivors:
    • Periods of unconsciousness or lack of motor control
    • Amnesia or confused state with suspicion of a sexual assault having occurred
    • Amnesia or confused state after no known consumption of a mind-altering substance or after a minimal consumption of alcohol
    • Patient’s suspicion or belief they were drugged prior to or during sexual assault
    • The suspected ingestion of drugs having occurred within 96 hours prior to the exam

Talk About It

  • What are ways you and friends watch out for each other in social situations?
  • What might be the hardest thing to do in taking action for yourself or a friend if drugged and/or sexually assaulted? Why?

Do More:

  • How can you share what you have learned today with friends?
  • What discussion can you initiate with friends to ensure you watch out for each other in social situations?
  • What can you suggest to help educate others in your school or community about date rape drugs?

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