DRINK COASTERS THAT CAN DETECT 'DATE-RAPE DRUGS' MAY BACKFIRE

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Colleges around the country are buying millions of
coasters that test for "date-rape" drugs in drinks. But some experts say
the coasters are ineffective and could lead to more assaults by creating a
false sense of security.

The manufacturers -- who also make fake snow and party foam -- say the
40-cent paper coasters are 95 percent accurate. The coasters have test
spots that are supposed to turn dark blue in about 30 seconds if a splash
of alcohol contains drugs often used to incapacitate victims.

In tests at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, however, the coasters
failed to react clearly to drinks spiked with gamma hydroxybutyrate, a
major date-rape drug known as GHB, said forensic scientist Anne Gierlowski.

"We tested red wine, cola, whiskey and orange juice and because three out
of the four have color already, it was very hard to decipher a color
change," she said. "It's a nice idea, but it's probably a nicer idea for
the people selling them because they've probably made a lot of money."

Plantation, Fla.-based Drink Safe Technologies Inc. has sold about 50
million of the coasters since March, mostly to colleges and convenience
stores, said president Francisco Guerra.

That would add up to as much as $20 million in revenue. Guerra wouldn't
comment on the privately held company's profits.

Guerra likens the coasters to condoms: While not 100 percent safe and
effective, they are a good prevention tool.

"I've had 100 people say this saved them from getting raped," said Guerra,
a former magician. "Before me, there was no way to detect it. It's nice to
be able to do something about it."

A federal task force recently estimated that college drinking leads to an
estimated 70,000 sexual assaults or rapes annually.

Yasmine Timberlake, a sophomore at San Jose State University, was grateful
for the coasters handed out by the YWCA at a bar near campus.

"We're girls, and we've got to be careful," she said, putting a handful in
her purse. "That's all we can do."

And students are now openly talking about date rape at St. Mary's
University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which bought 800 coasters to pass out
to freshmen.

"That's the purpose: to educate them and to make them more aware," said
Donnie Jeffrey, who runs St. Mary's alcohol-awareness program.

The coasters' labels promise they will help "identify the presence of
illicit drugs in beverages." But in response to questions from The
Associated Press, co-inventor Brian Glover, a New York dentist who dabbles
in chemistry, acknowledged that the coasters can identify just two of the
many date-rape drugs -- GHB and ketamine.

There are 36 drugs on the street classified as date-rape drugs, too many
for police field tests to detect, said Trinka Porrata, a retired Los
Angeles detective who is an authority on GHB.

"I'm horrified to think people are actually buying it and passing it out. I
think it will do more damage than it will ever do good," said Porrata, a
board member of Project GHB, a prevention and education organization. "If
it was that simple, we could shut down all of our crime labs."

Porrata tested different varieties of drugs on the coasters. Some test
spots turned a slight shade of blue within 30 minutes; others did not
change color until hours later, she said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration also advises against putting faith in
tests that cannot keep up with the constantly changing chemistry of illegal
drugs.

"In cases where there are scientific advances, the bad guys get around it
faster than the good guys can," DEA spokeswoman Rogene Waite said. "I would
urge people to be really, really, really careful. It's so dangerous, I
wouldn't want them to rely on one thing."