Spiked drinks are a reality

Sunday Newsday investigation

Females have been urged to be careful with their beverages (alcohol or non-alcoholic) and not take drinks from strangers, as new forms of drug cocktails are being used by unscrupulous men who want to target women to engage them in sexual activities. Leroy Serapio, Advisor to the TT Youth Council, Chairman of the Council’s Health Committee and Director of the Toco Youth and Sexuality Project, said the use of drugs in women’s drinks for the purpose of satisfying their partner’s sexual desires, is a reality and not “fairy-tale” talk. One of the most popular, local concoctions in recent times, is the combination of the painkiller drug, Mortrin 800, dissolved and mixed into the well-known stomach-upset relievers such as Andrews or Enos, which is then spiked into alcoholic drinks. Serapio disclosed that this cocktail is used mostly in drinks with fizz in order to fool suspecting females. The combination of the drug into an alcoholic drink, is said to put the body into a state of unconsciousness, while at the same time being fully aware of one’s surroundings.

It is supposed to break down all inhibitions and sense of reasoning, so that the female partner becomes more than likely to participate in the sexual activities since she is not able to fight off advances. In the absence of Mortrin, Serapio said any other strong pain-killers are used since it basically produces the same effects. Another cocktail which has been used in the past and still so, is a combination of the pain-killer, Panadol, mixed into a Coca-Cola softdrink. Serapio said he once had to counsel a young man who admitted to using this concoction on his girlfriend at one time but he later confessed the wrong doing to her. He said the combination of these two substances,  heightens sexual arousal in women, to a point in which they demand that their partners satisfy their desires. The more traditional date-rape drug is Spanishfly, which is another drug in liquid form, used in drinks in order to heighten sexual arousal in women. Over the past few years, the party-happy drug known as Ecstacy has become popular overseas and has been taking its hold in TT, especially around Christmas and Carnival time.

Ecstacy, is known to put the consumer into a state of semi-consciousness, with a feeling of floating on air. The National Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Programme (NADAPP) said Ecstacy is the most popular of the date-rape drugs in TT. One pharmacist disclosed that up to about two years ago, people were purchasing a drug called “rohipnol” but that has been discontinued and subsequently banned from the local market. The pharmacist said people used to buy this drug in order to give them a “high” since it had the same effects as Ecstacy. Serapio said, however, the use of the painkillers dissolved into ladies’drinks, has increased because it is more available at the “grass-roots” level. In addition, it takes effect more quickly on the victim than other drugs.

He said of major concern, however, is the growing use of “crack-cocaine” at parties and Carnival fetes. Crack, he said, which is the more condensed form of the rock cocaine, is mixed with a combination of other drugs. He said the availability of these drugs is a true reflection of the increased drug problem in TT. As a result of the number of incidents he was informed about, Serapio is appealing to women not to take drinks from strangers and to try as much as possible, to get their own drinks. Claudia Leacock, a counsellor attached to the Rape Crisis Centre, also urged women to, as much as possible, get their drinks on their own. She said if someone is going to get the drink for you, try to go with the person so you can see the drink in the person’s hand or in yours. Leacock said one of the problems is that it is very difficult to trust people and advised that women to monitor closely what drinks are purchased for you. She said women should use and trust that built-in instinct and urged them to be very conscious about their surroundings.

Be a real man

Serapio is calling on all men to be more responsible toward women, pointing out that are very few “real men” in TT today. He is urging them to take care of women and value them as they would themselves. “The hard truth is that there are very few real men in society today. I wish they would treat other women as they would treat and value their own mothers,” he said. Men, he noted, were nurtured to look at and admire women and have more aggressive sexual appetites. Women, on the other hand, were nurtured to be more emotional. “If women are dressing in tighter fitting and more revealing clothes, that is no reason for them to exploit them this way and not every woman who smiles at you wants to have sex with you,” he said.

Serapio is therefore, challenging men to be “real” men, to take stock of themselves and be a lot more responsible for their actions since it is their own conscience they have to live with. Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Dr Stanley Bishop, said psychologically, date-rape perpetrators are people who want ultimate control and power and are normally, men who are angry against women.

He said, however, because of their fear of being rejected, they use the drug in order to make the victim helpless. Men who rape, whether through the use of drugs or otherwise, are men who have been exposed to rape itself and or sexual abuse, or witnessed rape at some point in their lives. “The drug becomes the ultimate form of power because he cannot handle being told ‘no means no’,”Dr Bishop explained. He pointed out that any man who rapes, has a mental illness known as (opedieu complex) which is as a result of a lack of bonding with the mother as a child. Men who have characteristics of a rapist, he said, tend to have superficial relationships with women, part of which is the joy of controlling his partner.