STUDY: WOMEN USING 'DATE RAPE DRUG'

DALLAS (AP)- Nearly 6 percent of a group of sexually active girls and young
women reported taking the drug Rohypnol deliberately, despite warnings that
it can make them vulnerable to rape, according to a study.

Rohypnol, or "roofies," is known as a "date rape drug" because of cases in
which women were assaulted after someone slipped it into their drink. Users
have likened one tablet to drinking a 12-pack of beer.

Researchers at the University of Texas questioned 904 women ages 14 to 26
who visited a Galveston family planning clinic, and found that 5.9 percent
or 53 said they had taken flunitrazepam, the scientific name for Rohypnol,
at least once. Six reported taking it more than 20 times.

The study was reported Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers and other experts said they suspect women try the drug
because it is cheap, produces a drunken-like high and heightens the effects
of other narcotics.

"The media has been very clear about the dangers of this drug and yet teen-
age girls, particularly the ones we studied, when they party and someone
offers them something, they accept," said Dr. Vaughn Rickert. "They are
really leaving themselves open for assault."

Dr. Ron Charles, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas, questioned the survey's accuracy.

"I doubt that many people actually know what Rohypnol is. There are many
street drugs that can be perceived as Rohypnol," he said.

Rohypnol is illegal in the United States but prescribed in Mexico and dozens
of other countries for severe sleep disorders. In Mexican border towns, a
tablet can sell for less than $1, meaning young people in Texas can get
Rohypnol cheaply.

Law enforcement agencies seized 194 pills in Texas in 1992, and 41,600 in
1995.