CRACKDOWN ON 'DATE RAPE' DRUGS ADVANCES

Senate Panel Approves Bill That Would Duplicate Federal Laws Against
Possession, Manufacture

With strong support from prosecutors, a pair of bills to crack down on
possession and use of "date rape" drugs won approval Thursday in the Senate
Judiciary Committee.

Increasing problems with the drug in Colorado and other states led to the
proposals, said Ray Slaughter, executive director of the Colorado District
Attorneys Council.

Among the witnesses was a woman who testified that three men slipped her
one of the drugs in a drink and then raped her. Unlike many victims who
have no memory of what happened, the woman said she did recall the attack
but could do nothing to prevent it.

She said the drug was detected in her blood 13 hours later.

Sen. Ken Arnold, R-Westminster, said HB 1095 would make possession of "GHB"
and similar drugs a misdemeanor, but manufacture or use of it to assault
another person would be a felony.

GHB has become a popular college drug and can be manufactured in a bathroom
sink. Some people have used it to get the "high" of alcohol but to avoid
the hangover that comes with too much liquor.

"Drug purveyors are kind of crafty in what they do, and they keep making
new ones," Slaughter told legislators in explaining his support of the bill.

Similar drugs that already are on the federal list of prescribed drugs
would be banned in HB 1168, the omnibus crime bill which the committee also
approved. The bill duplicates federal law in banning use and sale of the
drugs.

Another section of the omnibus bill would expand the crime of stalking to
include people who scare others by showering them with inappropriate gifts.
The bill also would make it a crime for an out- of-state felon to escape
from a private prison in Colorado, and it would add manslaughter to the
list of crimes of violence.