Kit set to tackle date rape drugs
The pocket-sized product, called the Drink Detective, is designed to spot the three most common types of drugs used by those committing date rape.
The launch of the £3.95 (€6) kit was described by the Roofie Foundation, which runs a help-line for victims of drug rape, as a major step forward.
The Drink Detective contains a pipette and a card with three pads designed to spot the presence of either ketamine, GHB or benzodiazepines such as rohypnol.
Two of the pads change colour if drugs are present while the third case produce a single line.
The test takes a couple of minutes to complete and makers Bloomsbury Innovations say it could be done while the other person was away, perhaps in the toilets.
The company is selling the product through its own website www.drinkdetective.com, but hopes it will soon be available in vending machines in pubs and clubs.
Company director Stanley Grossman said at the launch of the product in London yesterday: “Can the Drink Detective solve the problem of drug rape? Of course not. No crime can be eradicated by one method.
“But for the perpetrators it will no longer be a risk-free crime because they don’t know whether the drink they spike will be tested.”
Roofie Foundation chief executive Graham Rhodes said: “We believe it is a tool that will help eliminate the problem.
“But it will not solve the problem.
“The only thing that will do that is massive public awareness campaign to alert people about drink spiking.” The Roofie Foundation received 6,650 reports from people who said they been drug raped or suffered sexual assault as a result of their drink being spiked up to January this year.
In 2,036 of the cases, the incident was thought to have happened in a pub and a further 1,368 in a club.
While the problem was associated with women, about 15% of victims were men. Yet to date there have only been 15 convictions as a result of drug rape, according to the foundation.
