Please take the time to read this whole thing and PLEASE forward it to
everyone you know. If you are female, then I would be wary from now
on about accepting drinks from anyone you don't know well or know LONG
enough to trust. For you guys out there, I"d tell your sister(s) about
this drug and how it could effect them.
Oh, another tip for the women...If you're going to accept a drink
from someone you've just met (like a date) then I'd try to make sure it's
from an unopened container and that you open it yourself. If you must
accept a drink anyway, then I'd mention to him that you know *everything*
about Rohypnol and its effects. I hope that would curb his desire to slip
a "roofie" (slang for Rohypnol) in your drink.
God, the world gets worse everyday....oh well, LEARN TO SURVIVE!
Anyway, here's the article:
RAPISTS SLIPPING VICTIMS MODERN-DAY MICKEYS
CHEAP PILL BLOTS OUT MEMORY OF CRIMES
MIAMI-Imagine all the fears of parents whose daughters have hit
dating age packed into one white pill the size of a dime.
It may be the mightiest Mickey Finn ever concocted.
and it is not the fiction of Sam Spade novels and Humphrey Bogart
movies.
These days, it costs about $3 at the high school water fountain. It
is colorless, odorless and quickly dissolves in a can of Diet Coke.
In about 10 minutes, it creates a drunk-like effect that lasts eight
hours. It enhances the effects of alcohol, causing loss of inhibition,
extreme sleepiness, relaxation and - perhaps worst of all for its victims -
amnesia.
The pill is made of a drug called Rohypnol (pronounced ro-hip-nol).
Your kids know them as "roofies."
And police are concerned - particularly about roofie rape.
In Broward County, Fla., 10 men have been arrested on roofie-rape
charges in the past year. The most recent came Feb. 1, when two brothers
and a friend were charged with repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl after
they secretly put a roofie in her soft drink. A 26-year-old Broward County
man who pleaded guilty to roofie rape in a 1995 case - Mark Anthony Perez
of Plantation - told authorities he used it to rape as many as 40 women.
The problem has not been as prevalent in Dade County, where police
departments reported a handful of suspected sexual assaults related
to roofies in the past six months.
A 17-year-old Coral Springs girl raped Jan. 7, 1996 while she was
under the influence of roofies lost 10 hours between having dinner with
friends and waking up in a strange hotel bed. Police are investigating a
29-year-old suspect who was at the dinner.
"Her panties were around her ankles and a condom next to her," said
the girl's mother. "My daughter didn't know this guy. She doesn't
remember a thing. This man is a rapist and he's going around doing this
to other women," she said. "I want people to know how dangerous this is."
"It's a big, big deal out there right now," said Bonnie Lashbrook, a
student peer counselor at Cooper City High School. "Parents of teen-age
girls should be scared."
College officials also note a concern on college campuses. Reported
sexual assault have increased and may be linked to Rohypnol. Officials
estimate that this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Since, the
victims suffer amnesia many women may have no idea that have been raped.
Rohypnol is a potent and hypnotic sedative used in some countries to
put out surgery patients. They are prescribed as sleeping pills in
about 80 countries, but not the United States. The emergence of the
once-obscure sedative has thrown police agencies for a loop. Florida law
officers have seized tens of thousands of the pills in the past year.
Rohypnol is also easily available from Mexico and parts of Europe.
In one raid, the pills were packaged in vitamin bottles and labeled
in Spanish. They were shipped from Colombia and distributed by two
suspects, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal.
It has proliferated to such a point that the Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have
joined forces with police to have Rohypnol's status as an illegal drug
enhanced to make penalties equal to cocaine and heroin.
"It's just that we have a chance in law enforcement to get ahead of
this thing before it gets too out of control," said Cooper City police
Capt. Jim Harn, whose agency is investigating several roofie-rape cases.
The incident involving the 15-year-old from Cooper City happened in
June at a Sweet 16 party at the Merrimac Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Charged with her rape are brothers Sidney Harmon, 19, and Scott Harmon,
17, of Pembroke Pines, and Moises Ventura, 18, of Miramar. The Harmons'
mother has said her sons are innocent. The Ventura family has declined
comment. According to friends, Scott and Moises were inseparable friends
who like to start fights and cause trouble. Sidney, who aspires to be a
paramedic, is a quiet, sensitive boy, friends say.
Erica Verriotto, 17, said she was good friends with all three boys
for over several. "Scott was kind of a troublemaker sometimes, you
know?" she said. "Nothing really serious. He used to like, start fights.
You know, yell at people who cut him off in traffic and stuff." "But
Sid, no way," she said. "trust Sid no matter what."
Cooper City detectives say several other girls have come forward
with similar stories about the group of boys, but no charges have yet
been filed.
"A lot of times the guys don't think they've done anything wrong,"
said Cooper City police Det. Kregg Lupo. "This is not a rape in their
eyes They think if the girl is not awake or alert enough to say, `No,'
it's not rape."
Police say they were able to arrest the Harmons and Ventura
primarily because the rapes happened while the victim's best friend
watched - an eyewitness. Another teen at the party said Scott and Moises
bragged about slipping the roofie into her soft drink.
Other roofie-rapes are more difficult to prosecute because of the
victims' loss of memory of the incident. "It's very difficult making these
cases," said Dennis Nicewander, an assistant state attorney in the Broward
sex-crimes unit. "Usually these victims don't remember a thing.
"It's almost like the perfect crime," he said. "Because they don't
have to worry about a witness testifying against them. And don't think
these guys aren't figuring that out."
The drug also has the potential to make rapists out of men who
without the drug might not commit the crime, he said.
"Usually, they aren't the kind of guys who would force themselves on
someone for sex. They seem to be the kind of guys you'd see at
happy hour with their buddies, the kind of frat-boy mentality that thinks
it's fun to get a girl drunk and have their way."
The drug also works it's way out of the human system usually within
24 hours, he said, which makes any delay by the victim a problem.
"Many of these kids start out in a compromising position to begin
with, then this happens to them and they are scared and embarrassed and
unclear as to what happened," said Stan Peacock, a Broward prosecutor.
"I have told my 17-year-old daughter never to accept a beverage of
any kind from anyone unless it is in a sealed container that she opens
herself," he said. "Does that give you any kind of an idea how concerned
I am about it?"
READ AND PROLIFERATE THIS MESSAGE
(
geocities.com/siliconvalley/peaks) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley)