UNIVERSITY GIVES FROSH DATE-RAPE DRUG TESTS

When 800 new students at St. Mary's University in Halifax picked up
their frosh kits this month, they received a special kind of drink
coaster -- one embedded with test strips for date-rape drugs.

The students were told that if they ever left a drink unattended in a
crowded place, they should simply dip their finger or a straw into
their glasses and rub the white strip. If the strip turned red, blue
or green after a minute, the coaster was said to be issuing a warning:
The drink had been spiked with Ketamine, GHB or Rohypnol, drugs that
have been used to render the drinker helpless, to trigger blackouts
and wipe out memory.

"Across society there has been a problem and it continues to be a
problem," said Donnie Jeffrey, a student counsellor at St. Mary's.

Some experts question the science behind the coasters, but he said the
the awareness they create is just as important.

Frequently an issue on campus, so called date-rape drugs are back in
the wider spotlight. A Quebec man was arrested Thursday for allegedly
being part of a North America-wide GHB-distribution ring.

Young women on campus express varying degrees of alarm. "Most of us
aren't scared because we know the precautions to take," said
18-year-old Catherine Dirks, taking a break on the lawn of the
University of Winnipeg yesterday.

Anet Maksymowicz chimed in with her mantra: "Don't leave your drinks
unattended. Don't accept drinks from strangers."

But second-year students Tanja Krmpotic and Robin Durupt, both 19,
were more wary. Two years ago, a mutual friend passed out cold at a
party after consuming a laced drink. Her friends were there to get her
home safely, but nagging questions remain. Had she imbibed somebody
else's drink? Or did the male who made the drink slip her the drug?

Alcohol and drugs have always been used to lower inhibitions -- and
resistance to unwanted sexual advances. But there has been a recent
surge in illegal designer drugs, such as ecstasy and GHB.

These drugs can produce highs and aphrodisiacal effects. They also
pose serious health risks and have caused deaths.

No one knows just how prevalent the use of such drugs is in Canada,
but the 2001 Ontario Student Drug Use Survey showed about 1.2 per cent
of the survey's respondents -- 11,000 young people -- had used them
within the past year.

This compares with 65 per cent who had used alcohol and 30 per cent
who had used marijuana.

And the 2000 survey, Drug Use in Toronto, noted that in late 1999,
emergency departments were seeing an increase in the number of GHB-
and ecstasy-related cases.

A review of files at one hospital showed GHB was consumed by 25
people, or 40 per cent, of the 62 people who went to emergency at St.
Michael's Hospital with complaints related to designer drugs.

Canada has relatively lax controls on GHB ingredients compared to the
United States, a situation that frustrates law-enforcement officers on
both sides of the border.

The presence of the drugs is very difficult to detect.

"There is no adequate field-test kit," said Trinka Porrata, one of
North America's leading experts on club drugs.

Ms. Porrata said it is extremely difficult to prosecute a rape case in
which the victim was given GHB because the drug often leaves no trace.

"The problem is, it's only in the blood four hours and in the urine
12," she said.