Just so all of you know: this post by Black was in the Tips digest but has not (yet?) appeared on the Mail Archive website.
Like I said previously, maybe someone should look into this. Have they started to filter the posts that they put up? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] > Subject: Date rape drugging > From: [email protected] > Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:19:58 -0500 > X-Message-Number: 9 > > A new "DAWN report" from the US Department of Health appears to > confirm fears that date-rape drugging is a widespread phenomenon and > a serious risk for young women. > > In their report, they use the general term "intentional poisoning" to > cover cases where drugs have been deliberately used to cause harm or > to prevent a person from defense against another crime (e.g. rape). > According to statistics they compiled from visits to emergency > departments in the USA, almost 15,000 were cases of deliberate > poisoning, amounting to 32% of all drug-related visits to emergency > departments. Nearly 2/3 of those classified as intentionally poisoned > were women. As for the drugs involved, 60% were unidentified. > > The initial press report of this study (USA Today at > http://tinyurl.com/7s8u43g ) uses it to emphasize the widespread > nature of this practice, noting "According to the data, about 60 > percent of these cases occurred after someone surreptitiously slipped > a drug into the victim's drink.". They also say "such poisonings > have been implicated in the rapes of an estimated 3 million American > women, although in reality that figure could be considerably higher." > > This is disturbing stuff. Yet I find it curious that the experience > in the UK seems to be strikingly different. In one report (Hughes et > al, 2007) of emergency department admissions in Wales, they studied > cases of alleged drink spiking over the past year and analysed urine > samples, of which 19% tested positive for "drugs of misuse". The > drugs identified were amphetamine, cocaine, and morphine. None > involved traditional date-rape drugs. They concluded "Most patients > allegedly having had a spiked drink test negative for drugs of > misuse. The symptoms are more likely to be a result of excess > alcohol." > > A reader's comment (Al-Jafari, 2007) was more pointed. He said: "The > study of alledged victims of drink 'spiking' by Hughes et al raises a > few issues not addressed in their paper. I note that of the 8 > patients who tested positive for drugs of misuse, not a single one > tested positive for a tradition 'date rape' drug such as Ketamine, > Rohypnol or GHB. One possible explanation is that the drugs, > including amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and opiates, were knowingly > taken by the patients. On realising that they were suffering from ill > effects, rather than admitting that they had knowingly taken illicit > substances for fear of repercussions, they may have used 'spiking' as > an excuse. > > Another study (Greene et al, 2007) analyzed blood and urine samples > of 78 participants, mostly young women. All had presented at an inner > city London emergency department claiming to have been the victim of > drink spiking. Alcohol was detected in most cases, and in 60% of > cases indicated significant intoxication. Sedative drugs were > detected in only 3% of participants. > > They concluded, "Use of sedative drugs to spike drinks may not be as > common as reported in the mainstream media. A large number of study > participants had serum ethanol concentrations associated with > significant intoxication; the source (personal over-consumption or > deliberate drink spiking) is unclear." > > A third, a review paper (Burgess et al, 2009), comments, "There is a > stark contrast between heightened perceptions of risk associated with > drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) and a lack of evidence that > this is a widespread threat." A news article in _The Telegraph_ > (http://tinyurl.com/yjlh6hj ) on the research explicitly quotes one > of the researchers as calling drink spiking "an urban legend" and > that "police have found no evidence that rape victims are commonly > drugged with such substances". > > Finally, an Australian study (Quigley et al, 2009) examined the > situation at a Perth hospital, and reported "We did not identify a > single case where a sedative drug was likely to have been illegally > placed in a drink..Drink spiking with sedative or illict drugs > appears to be rare". A news report on their study is at > http://tinyurl.com/7eb58wj > > > So here's the question. Is date-rape drugging largely a myth, as > these UK and one Australian paper suggest, or is it a real and > serious problem, as the recent USA DAWN report indicates? > > Some possibilities: > > 1) Is it a time difference? The UK studies were reported in 2007; > the DAWN report in 2011. Greene doesn't say (in the abstract anyway) > when the data were collected, but Hughes says 2004, and DAWN, 2009. > Yet five years seems a rather implausibly short time for the > situation to evolve from myth to reality. > > 2) is it a difference in national character? Are Americans poisoners, > and the Brits dissemblers? Possibly, I'd say, but unlikely. > > 3) Is it a difference in methodology? > > DAWN indicates that a case is considered to be "intentional > poisoning" when "A patient´s ED [emergency department] > chart indicates that she or he was deliberately > drugged by another person with the intent of > causing harm (e.g., drug-facilitated sexual assault)." > > They also say that "It should be noted that, within these cases, > toxicology tests may not always be conducted.". If not based on > toxicology, how does the information about 'deliberately poisoned" > get to the patients' charts? They do not say explicitly, but most > likely, the information is obtained through self-report. > > On the other hand, the UK and Australian results were based on blood > and urine analysis, a more objective source of evidence than self- > report. And given that most of the drugs claimed to have been used in > the DAWN cases were unidentified and none of those identified > included any of the standard date-rape ones, I'm more persuaded by > the urban legend claim than the clear and present danger one. > > As campaigns to educate young women about the danger of leaving > drinks unattended is a widespread phenomenon on university campuses, > the issue is a critical one. Are these warnings a well-founded > response to highly risky behaviour, or are we scaring the bejezus out > of students with an urban legend which has no more validity than the > one about razor blades in Halloween candy? > > Stephen > > > References > > Burgess, A (2009). Embodying uncertainty? Understanding heightened > risk perception of drink "spiking". British Journal of Criminology, > 49, 848-862. [abstract at > http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/6/848.abstract ] > > Quigley, P. et al (2009). Prospective study of 101 patients with > suspected drink spiking. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 21, 223-28. > [free text at http://tinyurl.com/7l7sb2k ] > > Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services > Administration, Center for Behavioral Health > Quality and Statistics. (November 3, 2011). > The DAWN Report: Drug-Related Emergency > Department Visits Attributed to Intentional > Poisoning. Rockville, MD. [free at > http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k11/DAWN040/WEB_DAWN_040_HTML.pdf > > Hughes, H. et al (2007). A study of patients presenting to an > emergency department having had a "spiked drink". Emergency Medicine > Journal, 24, 89-91. [free text at > http://emj.bmj.com/content/24/2/89.full > > Greene, s. et al (2007). What's being used to spike your drink? > Alleged spiked drink cases in inner city London. Postgraduate Medical > Journal, 83, 754-758. [abstract at > http://pmj.bmj.com/content/83/986/754.abstract > > Al-Jafari, S. (2007). Letter: 'Spiked' drink or voluntary drug use? > http://tinyurl.com/6ork6b2 > > > -------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=14170 or send a blank email to leave-14170-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
