- Undercover police were astonished to find that four per
cent of drinks in a nightclub had been spiked with "date rape"
drugs.
-
- The findings have also surprised workers with a charity
set up to help victims of drug rape, who have always insisted the problem
was far greater than the authorities were prepared to accept.
-
- Essex Police disclosed yesterday that two plainclothes
officers and two scientists who visited a nightclub in Chelmsford last
Friday evening had carried out tests on 200 empty glasses.
-
- Initial results showed that seven contained benzodiazepine
or similar tranquillisers normally only available under prescription for
stress. The drugs can cause confusion, forgetfulness and drowsiness.
-
- An eighth drink is thought to have contained either the
horse tranquilliser ketamine - which causes amnesia and hallucinations
- or GHB, which induces drowsiness and, sometimes, unconsciousness.
-
- Sgt Nigel Dermott, one of the officers who took part
in the operation, said that the glasses were taken mainly from women drinkers
at the unnamed nightclub.
-
- He had been "extremely surprised" to find that
eight had been tampered with. "We had expected to find something in
the region of one per cent," he said.
-
- "It certainly is a serious issue but I don't think
that the only motive for this is sexual assault or date rape. I think the
main motivation is amusement and for other offences such as theft and robbery.
There are many other motives but it certainly focuses the mind when you
think that this is being done partly for the purposes of sexual assault."
-
- The Essex operation was part of a campaign launched with
the charity Roofie, set up to assist victims of date rape drugs and campaign
against their use, to warn women of the dangers.
-
- Police have long believed that the extent of the drug
rape problem was massively under-reported. Graham Rhodes, chief executive
of Roofie, said that no official figures existed showing the extent of
the problem.
-
- "I was not completely surprised by the Essex findings
but I would have expected the level to have been about two per cent, not
four," he said.
-
- "In the past year about 6,000 people have phoned
our helpline. Of those, 1,832 had their drinks spiked in pubs and 1,176
in nightclubs. Yet, despite all our efforts, no pub or club chains or brewers
have agreed to talk to us about what they can do to reduce the dangers.
-
- "They have a moral responsibility and a duty of
public safety, but they are ignoring it. I suppose they are frightened
profits would be hit. But it should not be up to a voluntary organisation
like our own or cash-strapped police to shoulder all the responsibility."
-
- Publicity surrounding the problem has already led to
major changes in drinking habits in many metropolitan areas, with some
young women now insisting on only bottled beers or "alco-pops"
and drinking directly from bottles in pubs and clubs.
-
- They do not leave them unattended and frequently keep
their thumbs over the tops when not drinking.
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.
-
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003
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