DATE RAPE DRUG DEALERS FACE JAIL

The State Government is to get tough on pushers of "date rape" drugs.

The crackdown has been prompted by the increasing use of drugs to spike
drinks in Brisbane and Gold Coast nightclubs. Makers and pushers will be
jailed for up to five years under the proposed changes.

Police have warned women not to leave drinks unattended after 22 reported
their liquor had been tampered with.

More than half the women -- all blue-eyed blondes -- required medical
treatment and police fear a sexual predator is on the loose.

Premier Peter Beattie yesterday promised to target date rape drugs at their
source.

"As Premier and as a parent I view this as a very serious matter and that
is why my government is taking this tough action," he said.

There is no provision in Queensland law to prosecute people making and
trafficking the date rape drug flunitrazepam and its relatives.

Under its commercial name Rohypnol, it can be obtained by doctor's
prescription.

To prevent misuse, Rohypnol's manufacturers last year replaced the drug
with a lower-dose substitute containing a blue dye to make it detectable in
drinks.

But backyard laboratories are turning out derivatives for sale.

It is an offence to administer a stupefying drug and at least two men are
in jail for doing this and then raping victims.

In 1996, former Qantas flight attendant John Travers was jailed for eight
years for raping crew members after drugging them with Rohypnol.

Mr Beattie said existing law made no provision to cover backyard
manufacturers and traffickers. The present penalty was a maximum $4500 fine
for possession.

"Anyone who makes, sells or trafficks these types of drugs faces five
years' jail. Those found in possession will face up to two years," he said.

Police Minister Tom Barton said the Drugs Misuse Amendment Bill also would
have maximum five-year jail terms for selling or producing anabolic
steroids and two years for possession.