It looks as innocent as an aspirin, but it is a drug that has been linked with rape, memory loss and frightening flashbacks. Rohypnol has been described as a so-called "date rape" drug. It has been implicated in more than 500 assaults in the US and it is available here on prescription and on the black market.
Tasteless, odourless and colourless, it is 10 times more potent than Valium. Within 20 minutes of ingestion it induces a state similar to anaesthesia which can last for several hours. The individual may become excited, uninhibited or agitated. Immobility and amnesia follow. Traces leave the bloodstream within 36 hours, and it is not detectable in urine after 72 hours. Memory returns days afterwards in a fragmented manner, if at all.
In the US and the UK tales of the dangers of misuse of this drug are regularly told. One recent story involves a woman in London who accepted a drink from a man she did not know at a nightclub. Afterwards she felt dizzy and disorientated. She believes she was followed outside, where she was raped, possibly by more than one man. Tests revealed that she did not have an excessive level of alcohol in her bloodstream. Toxicology reports have yet to establish whether her drink was spiked with Rohypnol.
Stories about the drug are appearing with regularity in the UK press. But as yet the panic has not hit Ireland and it appears that there has not been any definite cases reported by women here. Gardai are reluctant to discuss it. The Garda Press Office says they have no case under investigation involving Rohypnol, which is a brand name for flunitrazepam. "That is not to say that there has not been one. We are aware of its existence," said a spokesman.
Rohypnol, a benzodiazepine, is a potent tranquiliser similar in nature to Valium. Its legitimate use is for severe sleep disorders. It is often distributed on the street in its original "bubble packaging", adding an air of legitimacy. It is not legal in the US, but is distributed there by drug traffickers. In Ireland it is available on prescription.
Rohypnol, with the street name "roofies", has been found here along with other illegal substances in drug seizures carried out by gardai. Illicit use of the drug has been going on for a number of years.
In the early 1990s "roofies" became popular in the US among high school and college students, particularly in Florida and Texas. They are cheap to buy, usually under $5 per tablet. Often they are combined with alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine to produce a rapid high. Even when taken by itself, users can appear intoxicated. It is touted as a "parachute" for the depression that follows a stimulant high.
There are anecdotal reports of it being added to punch and other drink at college parties and female students waking up afterwards in a strange house with no clothes on. Memory of the events which preceded this are very hazy. As well as everything else they have the added worry of having had unprotected sex. In some cases, it appears the girls were teenagers, should not have been drinking or taking drugs, and were afraid to tell their parents.
In Los Angeles Rohypnol was implicated in the high-profile case of identical twins George and Stefan Spitzer, who were convicted of systematically drugging and raping more than 26 women at their warehouse.
The drug is marketed worldwide by Hoffman-La Roche. And in conjunction with law enforcement agencies in the US, Roche has made testing kits available free to hospital emergency departments and rape crisis centres involved in the investigation of assaults in which misuse of drugs is suspected.
A fact-sheet from Roche Pharmaceuticals in Ireland, describes it as a "safe and efficacious" medicine, which has been prescribed by doctors for severe sleep disorders since 1975. More than one million patients in 80 countries take Rohypnol for the treatment of insomnia and related disorders.
"Rohypnol is a benzodiazepine, a class of drug which is considered one of the safest options available today for the medical treatment of sleep and anxiety disorders. It is prescribed by doctors and only available by private prescription," explains Mark Rodgers, managing director of Roche Pharmaceuticals.
He says that Roche is "extremely concerned" about reports of alleged misuse and abuse of the drug. "As a manufacturer of medications to improve the quality of people's health, Roche finds it extremely disturbing that a criminal might be misusing a legitimate medical therapy to sexually assault women," he says.
While no Irish case has come to the company's attention, Rodgers also says that it is not aware of any cases in the UK of alleged substance-assisted sexual assault involving Rohypnol, except from newspaper reports. "No forensic nor police evidence has, to our knowledge, been produced to support the reports." However, in Ireland Roche Pharmaceuticals applied to the Irish Medicines Board in early December to have the formulation of the drug changed to include a noticeable dye. It will be available in two months, an incredibly speedy turnabout in terms of drug licensing regulations.
The new colour-releasing formulation of the drug dissolves slowly and releases a noticeable bright blue colour as it dissolves. "The shape, colour and markings of the tablet have been changed to deter potential abusers looking for Rohypnol. The tablet is also film-coated," says Rodgers.
Warning notes have been sounded about the panic surrounding the drug. In the UK police have noted that only one rape case has come to court in the past six years in which it could be conclusively shown that Rohypnol was a factor. The defendant was acquitted. However, the time limit for toxicological evidence and the difficulties victims have in remembering do not facilitate the collection of the evidence necessary for a conviction.
The message for women, however, is not that you are safe once you keep an eye on your drink all night. According to Roche, the drug's name is now becoming a word used wrongly in the US in any suspected sexual assault case, even when the drug was not present.
"Alcohol remains the substance most frequently associated with these types of crimes, as confirmed by independent forensic toxicology tests on the urine samples of 508 American women reporting a sexual assault. No drugs were detected in 200 samples. Almost 40 per cent of the positive samples contained more than one substance. Alcohol was detected in 185 samples, marijuana in 81 samples, amphetamines in 52 samples, cocaine in 38 samples. Five contained Rohypnol, and four of those contained other substances," says Rodgers. Women, says Olive Braiden, director of the Rape Crisis Centre, are constantly trying to protect themselves, but it is often the familiar rather than the unusual, such as Rohypnol, which is to blame. "You cannot live your life constantly on a state of alert. At the end of the day the majority of people raped and assaulted suffer at the hands of people they know and trust. Very few are raped by strangers. We read about the cases where strangers are involved because they are reported or in unusual circumstances."
She has not heard of any sexual assault case in Ireland connected to Rohypnol. However, the Rape Crisis Centre has seen a number of women who had their drink spiked while on a night out. "They got out with a group of friends and drink what they are used to having. Then they wake up somewhere strange and find themselves in a situation they would not have chosen. They would not be able to prove it, but they would believe that somebody had put something in their drink."