Oh dear, another myth destrouyed by actual statistics:
Nick Ross, chair of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science, commented: \”There is no evidence of widespread use of hypnotics in sexual assault, let alone Rohypnol, despite many attempts to prove the contrary.
\”During thousands of blood and alcohol tests lots of judgement-impairing compounds were discovered, but they were mostly street drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals taken by the victims themselves, and above all alcohol was the common theme.
\”As Dr Burgess observes, it is not scientific evidence which keeps the drug rape myth alive but the fact that it serves so many useful functions.\”
Note that the statement is not that it never happens, the spiking of a drink with Rohypnol or another drug. Only that it seems to be rare, vastly rarer than many would seem to believe.
\”The reason why fear of drink-spiking has become widespread seems to be a mix of it being more convenient to guard against than the effects of alcohol itself and the fact that such stories are exotic – like a more adult version of \’stranger danger\’.\”
Or perhaps its a convenient excuse for the self inflicted wounds of getting so pissed that they have no idea whats going on and regret what they did the next morning.
Well if you have a better explanation for how a you woman in a club starts feeling giddy and disoriented after 5 or 6 drinks and becomes willing to sleep with men she would not otherwise have done so…….
“Or perhaps its a convenient excuse for the self inflicted wounds of getting so pissed that they have no idea whats going on and regret what they did the next morning.”
Yup, that too…
@Ross Heh!
Can’t wait to see the harpies at the Grauniad start to tear their hair out over this one, mind you…
Julia,
My guess is they’ll ignore it, hoping that lack of publicity kills it off before it can slaughter one of their sacred cows.
A few years ago the Forensic Science Service published a paper:
USA studies have reached similar conclusions.
I must admit to having read the Guardian on most days in the last ten years and not realised that the drugging of women in bars with Rohypnol was one of their sacred cows?