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“All sexual assault is an act of aggression, regardless of the
gender or age of the victim or the assailant. Neither sexual desire nor sexual
deprivation is the primary motivating force behind sexual assault. It is not about
sexual gratification, but rather a sexual aggressor using somebody else as a
means of expressing their own power and control”
Nicholas Groth, a clinical psychologist
The current law is
wholly insufficient to address the problems of drug assisted rape and the
problems confronted by the victims of such a rape. Drug-facilitated sexual
assault is not a new phenomenon. Experienced law enforcement officers and
advocates know that alcohol is the most common drug used to facilitate sexual
assault. Alcohol has been used as a method to facilitate sexual assault for
years and remains the most widely used drug today.
Rape drugs make it
relatively easy for rapists to gain control of their victims. The
surreptitious drugging of a victim is, in and of itself, a cruel and criminal
violation of the person. The rapist does not have to overcome any form
of resistance. No need for physical force or threats, the drugs they
administer immobilize and silence the victim. Some of these drugs produce Anterograde
amnesia is a condition in which events that occurred during the time the
drug was in effect are forgotten.[i] Victims may not seek help until days after the assault,
partly because the drug impairs their memory and partly because of their
inability to recognize signs of sexual assault. Anterograde amnesia
is a condition in which events that occurred during the time the drug was in
effect are forgotten.[ii]
Drug-facilitated rape
presents its victims and law enforcement personnel with an additional set of
challenges above and beyond those associated with other sexual
assaults. Often referred to as “date-rape drugs,” Rohypnol, GHB, and
ketamine[iii] are used by rapists to render women unconscious, making them
unable to resist unwanted sexual advances. The American Prosecutors Research
Institute defines “drug-facilitated rape” as: [s]exual assault facilitated by
the offender’s use of an ‘anesthesia-type’ drug which when administered to
the victim (stealthily or not) render[s] the victim ‘physically incapacitated
or helpless, and thus incapable of giving or not giving consent. GHB may
cause enhanced sexual feelings by the victim. Victim may participate in
reciprocal acts, as a result of the drug, rather than free will. These
victims may be either be conscious or unconscious during their sexual assault
and have anterograde amnesia upon gaining normal consciousness, similar to
the effects of a surgery patient coming out of anesthesia.[iv]
There is a widely held
misconception about the effects of the drugs commonly associated with drug
assisted rape. Despite the prototypical construction, the reality is that
people who have ingested drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB rarely lose
consciousness. Rather, the amnesiac effects of the drugs prevent victims from
recollecting events thus creating a ‘memory void’ that the brain rationalizes
as a period of unconsciousness. However, the victim will retain consciousness
whilst appearing to the observer to be inebriated but able to act under her
own volition (Dowd, Strong, Janicak and Negrusz, 2002)[v]. By eliminating the possibility of consent, the prototypical
construction focuses attention on the use of drugs to obtain intercourse
(from a victim who is presumed to be unconscious) rather than on the use of
drugs to obtain consent (from a victim whose state of mind is affected by the
drugs). It is this latter situation that is a more accurate representation of
the majority of cases of drug assisted rape. Drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB lower
anxiety, alertness and inhibition whilst inducing euphoria, passivity and a
sense of relaxation thus increasing the likelihood that the victim will
engage in intercourse, even if such behavior would usually be
uncharacteristic, leading them to be described as ‘a particularly formidable
weapon’ in sexual assault cases (Weir, 2001, p. 80).[vi] 
In addition to this
impact on the victim’s thinking and behavior, these drugs induce anterograde
amnesia thus leaving the victim with only a hazy recollection of events. When
victims of drug-facilitated rapes cannot give a complete narrative, they
often encounter suspicion, disbelief, and/or frustration.[vii] Many aspects of a rape investigation are facilitated by a
victim’s ability to describe what happened. The victim’s narrative helps
guide the medical/evidentiary examination and the police investigation.
Their inability to supply information that could assist the investigation
and/or prosecution compounds their sense of helplessness.[viii] The amnesiac impact of these drugs has been
described as ‘their most insidious effects’ and clearly has a negative impact
on the ability to detect and prosecute perpetrators of drug assisted rape
(Labianca, 1998). [ix] It would appear that Rohypnol and the like facilitate rape not
because they render the victim unconscious but because they lead to a
disassociation between mind and body that renders the victim receptive to
sexual activity that she may well have found unwelcome in other
circumstances, whilst eroding her ability to recollect events once the drugs
have worn off. To onlookers the victim may appear drunk or impaired and
the rapist taking the victim to another place may appear to onlookers as
assisting an impaired person. While the victim is still under the
effects of the drug which may last 72 hours, the rapist has plenty of time to
create a plausible cover story.[x] Some drugs stay for a couple of days, but GHB, the most
popular for obvious reasons, very quickly dissipates from the system. There
is no “screening test” for GHB; it requires a confirmation test that
hospitals cannot do and crime labs only do upon specific request.
[i] Drug-Facilitated
Rape: Looking for the Missing Pieces, Nora Fitzgerald and K. Jack Riley, PhD,
Journal, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice, Washington, DC: April 2000, http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/jr000243c.pdf
[ii] Drug-Facilitated
Rape: Looking for the Missing Pieces, Nora Fitzgerald and K. Jack Riley, PhD,
Journal, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice, Washington, DC: April 2000, http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/jr000243c.pdf
[iii] American Prosecutors
Research Institute, The Prosecution Of Rohypnol And Ghb Related Sexual
Assaults, Ch. 1, pp. 13 – 17 (1999) [hereinafter APRI] (describing twenty-one
other drugs used to facilitate sexual assault). I have chosen this focus
because these three drugs have garnered the most attention from the
government, media, and medical field. Although I later argue that this narrow
focus should be avoided, I found it necessary to mirror these group’s focus
in order to describe most accurately the overall response to the date rape
drug crisis. It should be clear from the outset of this paper, however, that
my focus on Rohypnol, GHB, and ketamine in no way suggests that these three
drugs are the most prevalent or dangerous drugs related to rape.
[iv] APRI, supra note
12, at Ch. 1, p. 5.
[v] Dowd, S.M., Strong,
M.J., Janicak, P.G. and Negrusz, A., 2002: ‘The Behavioural and Cognitive
Effects of Two Benzodiazepines Associated with Drug Facilitated Sexual
Assault’ Journal of Forensic Science vol. 47, pp. 1101-1107
[vi] Weir, E., 2001: ‘Drug Facilitated Date Rape’ Canadian
Medical Association Journal vol. 165 (1), p. 80
[vii] Successfully
Investigating Acquaintance Sexual Assault: A National Training Manual
for Law Enforcement, The National Center for Women and Policing, http://www.womenandpolicing.org/
Publication Date: May
2001
[viii] Successfully
Investigating Acquaintance Sexual Assault : A National Training Manual
for Law Enforcement, The National Center for Women and Policing
http://www.womenandpolicing.org/
Publication Date: May
2001
[ix] Labianca, D.A., 1998:
‘Rohypnol: a Profile of the Date Rape Drug’ Journal of Chemical Education vol.
75, pp. 719-722
[x] Archambault, Joanne
“Dynamics of Sexual Assault” Training Director, Sexual Assault Training and
Investigations, SATI, Inc, SATI, Inc., Addy, WA 99101-0033, joanne@mysati.com
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Many rape
victims still despair of obtaining justice, and for good reason. It is true
that police, prosecutors, and judges have a terrible record of dealing with the
crime of rape. But drug facilitated rapists are most commonly serial rapists.
They will commit this crime again. There are estimates that as many as 20% of
all rapes are facilitated with drugs. 
