Drug-facilitated sexual assault cases are hard to pinpoint, and officials say they do not track cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault specifically.
Drug-facilitated sexual assault, or “date rape drugs” are drugs used to instigate any kind of sexual assault activity, according to the Office on Women’s Health website.
Rohypnol, a commonly used “date rape drug” is not legal in the U.S. Ketamine, however, is legal as an anesthetic for humans and animals. GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyric acid) is legal in the U.S. to treat problems for narcolepsy, according to the Office on Women’s Health.
Alcohol is considered to be the most commonly used substance in drug-facilitated sexual assault, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. The most common signs of being drugged are difficulty, feeling drunk but having consumed no alcohol, nausea, dizziness, disorientation or waking up with no memory.
Lianne Dickerson, Emergency Department director at OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, said O’Bleness does not maintain data about the number of patients who indicate they were given a drug by their assailant.
Athens Police Department Police Chief Tom Pyle said drug-facilitated sexual assault cases are hard to pinpoint and categorize.
“That’s a legal concept,” Pyle said. “There's surreptitiously administered (drugs) then there’s sexual assault that happens when a person is willingly ingesting drugs, and then are preyed upon because of the condition they are in.”
Pyle said APD is not able to pursue reports on things such as date rape. He said the term “date rape” is a slang, and there is no such thing as drug-fueled rape in terms of law enforcement.
“It is just rape or sexual assault,” Pyle said.
Pyle said APD does not classify drug-facilitated rape as sexual assault.
“It’s a condition for the victim of whether or not they would have known the perpetrator and they would have had contact between the two through a relationship that led to a sexual assault,” Pyle said.
If the offender administers a controlled substance, such as a “date rape drug” in order to control their victim by force or deception, according to RAINN, the penalty is five to 11 years in prison and up to a $20,000 fine when convicted.
Keller Blackburn, Athens County prosecuting attorney, said his office is working with O’Bleness to test blood and urine of every patient who has been sexually assaulted and indicates being drugged or drinking too much alcohol.
“That just happened within the last 12 months,” he said. “OhioHealth was generous enough to pay for the testing, and it became standard policy to collect specimen and send it out for testing.”
Blackburn said the prosecuting office deals with cases as it gets them and it “(goes) with it from there.”
“If it’s a date rape, then it’s a date rape and we handle it, and if it’s a stranger rape then it’s a stranger rape and we handle it,” he said.
Blackburn said standard testing has not always been in place, and he hopes by incorporating it into policy it will help solve more cases.
“I think it’ll be very helpful,” Blackburn said. “It’s so traumatic to have something like this happen to someone. The more evidence we can get, regardless of what it is, will help us get to the truth. Once we get to the truth, we’re able to get justice for people.”
