COUNTY SEES MORE `DATE-RAPE' DRUG CASES

Abuse Of `Roofies,' GHB Is On The Rise

HICKORY

- -- Police and social workers in Catawba County say they're starting to
see signs that rape victims, without knowing it, have taken Rohypnol
or GHB, commonly referred to as "date-rape drugs."

"It's not something we see commonly," said Hickory Police Capt. Steve
Wright. "But it is something we're seeing on occasion, whereas a
couple of years ago we didn't see it at all."

So the Rape Crisis Center of Catawba County, Hickory police and the
county sheriff's department are starting to put more emphasis on the
drugs. The center's staff speaks frequently to students at
Lenoir-Rhyne College and in area high schools.

The center and law enforcement continue to refer cases to each other
when the need arises, and the center recently organized a seminar on
the drugs and on date rape in general for sheriff's deputies. They
hope information about the drugs will encourage people to report
suspected rapes more often and more quickly.

"The information's getting out there, so people are getting the idea
that this might have happened," said Cindy Trainer, the center's
victim advocate.

Rohypnol, also called "roofies," is a sedative that began showing up
on college campuses in the early 1990s. The colorless, odorless,
tasteless drug can cause memory loss, dizziness, confusion or loss of
consciousness, especially when taken with alcohol.

GHB surfaced a few years later. It's designed to increase muscle
growth, but it has many of the same side effects as Rohypnol.

A standard ploy is for a man to slip a roofie into a woman's, or
man's, drink, then rape the unconscious victim. About two years ago,
staff of the Rape Crisis Center of Catawba County began talking to
clients whose stories seemed to match that scheme.

"We had a couple of clients call and say, `I think maybe I was
drugged, but I don't know what it was,' " said Trainer. "They knew
what had happened, they knew they had been raped, but they just
couldn't remember what had happened to them."

The number of clients with similar tales increased, and the Rape
Crisis Center got more calls. So far this year, the center has
received 176 reports of rape, compared to 96 this time in 1998.

But it's been difficult for the center or law enforcement to put a
finger on the drugs as a cause.

None of the apparent rape victims in Catawba County who've showed
signs of being drugged have had their urine or blood checked for the
drugs, which generally leave the bloodstream after no more than three
days.

The reasons vary.

Many rape victims are ashamed to report the crime. That goes double
for a young person who was drinking when it happened. The drugs make
it hard for victims to remember what did happen, and even if they do
remember and want to report a rape, they seldom think to go to the
hospital for a urinalysis to check for the drug's presence.

"What you see most often is a person who's put himself or herself in a
compromising position, and they think the police aren't going to show
a whole lot of sympathy," Wright said.

"If all goes well, we say, `Yeah, you may have made some mistakes, but
still you were victimized, and a crime was committed, and the police
can help you if you want.' "

"We had a couple of clients call and say, `I think maybe I was
drugged, but I don't know what it was. They knew what had happened,
they knew they had been raped, but they just couldn't remember what
had happened to them."