News: Date rape drug ring based on Net 20/09/2002

AUTHORITIES claim to have broken up four internet drug trafficking rings operating in the US and Canada, making more than 100 arrests and seizing enough chemicals for 25 million doses of a "date rape" drug.
The two-day sweep in 84 cities was "a dose of harsh reality for drug traffickers who seek to exploit the vast markets and anonymity of cyberspace," Attorney-General John Ashcroft said today.
Federal, state and local police began the investigation, called Operation Webslinger, two years ago.
The internet drug rings were allegedly based in St Louis; Detroit and San Diego; Mobile, Alabama, and Sparta, Tennessee; and Buffalo, New York, and Quebec City.
Relying on websites and personal email accounts to reach out to their customers, the dealers disguised what they were selling by naming their products "Blue Raine" ink jet printing supplies and "TonerCleen cleaning solution," investigators told a news conference at Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Word of the websites had spread quickly in the past few years, particularly among teenagers and young adults frequenting the club scene. The site locations could even be found scrawled on bathroom walls, investigators said.
Law enforcement agencies and the government have run education campaigns to warn women about sexual predators who could spike their drinks with colorless, odourless drugs, which cause drowsiness, dizziness and loss of inhibition.
"Date-rape" drug GHB and its derivatives, GBL and 1,4 Butanediol or BD, are industrial solvents that have killed 72 drug users, said DEA Director Asa Hutchinson.
Marketing dangerous drugs on the web "should not, and will not, be as simple as point and click," said Hutchinson, who noted the components of GHB are used in floor stripping fluid.
Investigators seized over $US1 million ($1.83 million) in cash and property from the four alleged drug rings, and 3000 gallons of GHB and the other two substances.
Daniel Pelchat, of St Etienne, Quebec, described by Assistant US Attorney James Kennedy in Buffalo as one of the biggest providers of GHB in the world, was indicted for unlawful use of the internet and importation of GBL and BD.
Authorities claimed 1452 gallons of the chemicals were seized from his business and residence.
The ring operating in Detroit and San Diego relied on personal email accounts and word of mouth to market its products, officials said. The alleged San Diego connection to the ring, Larry Waychoff, is a fugitive.
The Missouri network, an internet company called Miracle Cleaning Products, sold to customers in 41 states and was allegedly run by a mother-and-son team, Cassandra Harvey, 53, of Festus, Missouri, and Joshua Harvey.
The Harveys are being held ahead of a detention hearing Monday in St Louis.
The US Postal Inspection Service, the Customs Service and the FBI are the other federal agencies participating in the investigation.

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Michael Robertson (from the San Diego Medical Examiner's Office), said that the Society of Forensic Toxicologists (SoFT) has formed a committee to look at drug facilitated rape and "in San Diego less than 1% of the drug facilitated rape are flunitrazepam [rohypnol, ruffies]". CAT Conference May 5, 2000
While flunitrazepam (as with all sedatives) can be used to make someone very groggy or knock them out, it is not commonly used in the US for date rape. Mixing sedatives with alcohol can also prove fatal for the victim. Alcohol is considered the number 1 'date rape' or 'substance facilitated sexual assault' drug and according to these sources GHB and its relatives are now number 2. That's from Erowid.

[ 24 September 2002: Message edited by: apollo ]

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Originally posted by sydkiwi:
I have no sympathy for girls who leave their drinks unattended and get slipped a rape drug like Rohypnol for instance.
mmm, call me severe, but those damn sluts deserve to be subjected to the pain and horror that is rape to teach them a lesson for their unforgivable absent mindedness...
/end thread hijack. for now.
[ 12 February 2003: Message edited by: Trillian ]

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I have no sympathy for girls who leave their drinks unattended and get slipped a rape drug like Rohypnol for instance.
Draft 2: I originally wrote here "I don't agree with this at all - I think that drugging another person without their knowledge/permission is a trespass on their person that is tantamount to rape."
However, putting some thought into it, I realise that you're probably not saying that these girls deserve to get raped ... just that if they get drugged then it's their own fault for not protecting themselves by watching their drink. That's a fair enough point - and it's a valid point to make in a Harm Minimisation sense.
Leaving your drink unattended, or taking a drink from a stranger, is high risk behaviour in a club environment. You should take steps to minimise the risks, by watching your drink, buying only fresh bottles from the bar, and having friends watch out for you. Leaving your drink unwatched is like not testing a pill... you just don't know what's in it when you get it back, and if you consume unknown chemicals, then you subject yourself to the possibility of harm.

I had a mate who got slipped a drug. now this is the sort of girl who never buys her own drinks, drinks everyone elses and strangers who she is trying to pick up. sorry hun u had that one coming.
Must be a fairly distant mate... you don't really sound sympathetic. The important thing, I guess, assuming that she came out of the experience safely would be that she learn a lesson from it. If she didn't learn from that mistake, then she'll be doomed to repeat it, possibly with far worse consequences.
There's a sneaky side issue here which I've seen happen maybe three or four times as often as I've seen people actually get drugged... Possibly would better be discussed in a separate thread, but there are people who, without thought for consequences, totally overdo it when they're out (*gasp*). They get absolutely fucked, and behave in a really embarrassing way, and then the next day wake up with a pounding hangover and realise what they have done. So, they tell everyone they were roofied to save face and not look like a total whore. I think that someone lying to absolve themself of responsibility for their actions while off their face is pretty weak... but it happens.
BigTrancer

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I think that someone lying to absolve themself of responsibility for their actions while off their face is pretty weak... but it happens.
A lot
dimmo
NB: I think one of the keys of fighting real daterape, are friends looking out for friends. Too often there is a kind of 'she'll be ok.. she's a big girl now' attitude.
Look after your friends and they'll look after
you.
Edit: I have heard of it happening to guys also... so 'he'll be ok... he's a big boy now' also applies
[ 13 February 2003: Message edited by: dimmo ]

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