beware alcoholic beverages spiked with ........

Shortly Vleeptron will post a first-hand account of a drug or two which ... well, Watch This Space, but until then, Vleeptron wishes to assure the Earth that the whole Experience was Perfectly Legal, thoroughly supervised by Real Physicians, and its sole purpose was to Make Bob Healthier.

Meanwhile, shocking news from Science: Date Rape is caused by a Date Rape Drug. The name of the most commonly used Date Rape Drug is ...

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From issue 2533 of New Scientist magazine, 07 January 2006, page 13

Alcohol, not drugs,
poses biggest
date rape risk

DRINKING, not drink spiking, may be behind the vast majority of date rapes. An analysis of blood and urine samples suggests that while most victims were drunk at the time of the assault, very few had swallowed sedatives.

"Everyone thinks that Rohypnol is a problem," says Michael Scott-Ham of the UK's Forensic Science Service in London. "But alcohol is by far the biggest problem." Scott-Ham and his colleague Fiona Burton analysed samples taken from 1014 victims in the UK soon after the alleged assault between January 2000 and December 2002. Only 2 per cent of samples contained sedatives, they report in a paper to be published in the Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine.

They then focused on the 391 victims who had given samples within 12 hours of the assault - when alcohol could still be detected in the samples. They calculated that, at the time of the assault, 32 per cent of victims had consumed enough alcohol to make them pass out or suffer memory loss - with more than 200 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. A further 24 per cent were drunk, with at least 150 mg of alcohol per 100 ml.

While some victims may have had their drinks spiked with alcohol rather than sedatives, Scott-Ham wants to overturn the idea that making sure your drink hasn't been spiked is enough to guard against rape.