DATE RAPE DRUGS POPPING UP

Regina women need to keep an eye on their drinks and their friends to
avoid the dangers of date rape drugs, advise Regina professionals who
have noted an alarming number of drug- and alcohol-induced sexual
assault cases recently.

"It's been an emergent thing over the last perhaps two or three years
to the point now where I think we see (druggings) at least one every
Friday or Saturday night, and I'm only one of 21 full-time physicians
.," said Regina emergency room Dr. Kathy Ferguson.

"In talking to my colleagues in the last week, one of my colleagues
has seen another case and this time unfortunately it was a sexual
assault. So it definitely is more prevalent and I think it's something
that young people going to the bar should be aware of."

"We're getting more calls in about it, but also more stories ...,"
agreed Abby Ulmer, a counsellor with the Regina Women's Community
Centre and Sexual Assault Line. "I'm just hearing more stories from
the young women themselves of something that might have happened to
them, or something that they heard about that happened to a friend, or
someone who was able to get away."

Ulmer said many of the cases she has heard about took place at clubs,
bars and licensed events like concerts. And contrary to popular
belief, it doesn't just happen to teens and girls in their early 20s;
women of many ages and even a few men have reported being drugged.

Ferguson said she has identified common date rape drugs Rohypnol and
Ketamine in Regina victims. Both are next to impossible for a
potential victim to taste in a drink and quickly cause dizziness,
nausea, loss of balance and even unconsciousness, often taking the
appearance of drunkenness. Memory loss is another effect, making more
than just reporting and prosecution of the offence difficult, Ulmer
said.

"Any sexual assault is difficult, but it just really exacerbates the
situation when you don't have the memory, because that really affects
trust issues, because who in fact did this to you?" she said.

Although both Ferguson and Ulmer profess to having heard from a number
of women who have been drugged -- and some sexually assaulted -- a
Regina Police Service spokeswoman said police have yet to find
concrete evidence of Rohypnol. While the sleep aid is not legally
available in Canada, it can be purchased in the U.S. and Mexico.

"Our drug section hasn't ever seized Rohypnol in drug searches,"
Elizabeth Popowich said. "All of that aside, from time to time we hear
talk about drugs like GHB or Rohypnol used to facilitate sexual
assault, but we haven't found the hard evidence to support the
allegations.

"It's really important to stress that it doesn't mean that if someone
alleges a sexual assault that the sexual assault didn't occur."

Ulmer said many victims don't report sexual assaults and druggings and
that date rape drugs are often metabolized quickly, meaning it can be
very difficult to prove a drug was used to aid in an assault.

"And that's one of the other disturbing things about it, because you
often can't find it in the system unless you go immediately after a
sexual assault and very seldom does a person go absolutely immediately
after," she said.

Ferguson said Rohypnol is often undetectable between 12 and 24 hours
after ingestion.

Ferguson, Popowich and Ulmer encouraged the reporting of any type of
sexual assault, as well as taking precautions to ensure drug-related
assaults don't happen in the first place, such as using a buddy system
while out on the town, not leaving drinks unattended and not accepting
drinks from someone yo u don't know or trust. Overconsumption of
alcohol can also pose a risk in and of itself, as it leaves potential
victims vulnerable, they added.