80,000 Rohypnol stolen.

JJJJNR

I've read in todays metro that a 25 litre drum containing 1 million Rohypnol pills has been stolen from a warehouse in Dublin.

Be extra vigilant out there ladies, I'll try to get a link up later.

Stoned Hippy

When I first read the title of this post I thought to myself "Damn, there's going to be a few pissed off rapists walking around this morning, someone stealing your massive stash".

Then I realised what actually happened and got a little worried for all you ladies out there.

g'em

BreakingNews.ie
'Date rape drug' stolen from industrial estate
12/05/2009 - 13:45:27

A large quantity of prescription drugs, including more than 80,000 Rohypnol tablets, has been stolen from a pharmaceutical company in north Dublin.

Rohypnol is widely known as a 'date-rape' drug, but can also be used as a prescribed drug for specific patients.

Gardaí say up to four men overpowered a security guard at the premises in the Baldoyle Industrial Estate just after 3am this morning.

Eighty-three thousand Rohypnol tablets were taken along with around one million Zopiclone sedatives.

Gardaí say the drugs may be dangerous if taken without medical supervision.

A dark-coloured four-wheel-drive vehicle was used by the raiders who fled the scene.

Gardaí at Howth Garda Station are investigating the theft and appealed for anyone with information or who is offered the haul to come forward.

Jeebus, I presume at that quantity it was specifically Rohypnol that was targetted?

KTRIC

Giggidy :pac:

g'em

KTRIC wrote: »

Giggidy :pac:

Ridiculously inappropriate. This is not AH.

Kinetic^

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

enda1

Kinetic^ wrote: »

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

No, its your horrific looks which do :cool:

g'em

Kinetic^ wrote: »

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

As good a point as that is, this is the ladies' lounge so if you'd like to talk about the implications this will have on guys feel free to discuss it in Humanities or Men's Health. But let's just explore this from a woman's pov while it's here...

enda1 wrote: »

No, its your horrific looks which do :cool:

Charming. See warning above re: AH thattaway -->

Bluetonic

Why did 80,000 Rohypnol being stolen get dramatically turned into 1,000,000 Rohypnol being stolen?

Talk about scare mongering, lets get the FACTS here.

Gang makes off with 1m sedatives
Pills - generic
More than one million sedatives have been stolen

Thieves have stolen more than a million potentially dangerous sedatives from a pharmaceutical company in Dublin.

Up to four men overpowered a security guard at Baldoyle Industrial Estate and stole 17 drums containing Zopiclone sleeping pills.

One 25 litre drum containing 83,000 Flunitrazepam tablets, the brand dame for the so-called "date-rape" drug Rohypnol was also taken.

The robbery took place shortly after 0300 BST on Tuesday.

Irish police have preserved the scene of the robbery for technical examination and warned the the drugs may be dangerous if taken without medical supervision.

The said that while they did not have a description of the robbers at the moment, the gang used a dark-coloured four-wheel drive vehicle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8046087.stm

Flunitrazepam is most commonly used as a recreational drug.

O'Coonassa

Widely used by junkies for getting off their chops. Also robbery and rape.

Táck

there has to be an increase in rapists for this to be a serious worry.

the majoirty of the Rohypnol stolen will be sold by and used by junkies and or people who use drugs recriationally. albeit the more hardcore recriational user! like nick nolte.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,383756,00.html

lostexpectation

what was the name of the company, forest, niche?

Táck

Kinetic^ wrote: »

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

no you could be lucky and find a homosexual man willing to rape you.

JJJJNR

Kinetic^ wrote: »

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

Effects women more I think. Although fair point. Feel free to post up in BGRH.

Bluetonic

JJJJNR wrote: »

Effects women more I think. Although fair point. Feel free to post up in BGRH.

Any chance of getting the facts right before the mass hysterics?

shellyboo

Bluetonic wrote: »

Any chance of getting the facts right before the mass hysterics?

"Eighty-three thousand Rohypnol tablets were taken along with around one million Zopiclone sedatives"

You can see where the error would be very easily made. The facts are above in the piece g'em posted.

Mr. Incognito

oh great, now we'll have more young ones getting off their heads on cocktails and claiming they were "spiked".

Most rapes are committed by people you know.

Alcohol is the single largest contributor to rapes.

Those 80,000 tablets will most likely be consumed by people for recreation not dropped willy nilly into some young ones drink.

Lets lay off the sky is falling down talk. It's too early in the day for such nonsense.

Nerin

Bloody hell,i hope its just for junkies and not for the other uses...

Bluetonic

shellyboo wrote: »

You can see where the error would be very easily made.

It's most negligent by the original poster.

g'em

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Lets lay off the sky is falling down talk. It's too early in the day for such nonsense.

I never knew this was used as a recreational drug, I always associated it with the "date-rape drug" label, that's my own ignorance. 'Tis truly my something new learned for the day!

g'em

Táck wrote: »

no you could be lucky and find a homosexual man willing to rape you.

This isn't AH and warnings have already been given on-thread. No more jokes on this topic please. Infracted.

shellyboo

Bluetonic wrote: »

It's most negligent by the original poster.

I'd say it was probably more the Metro and its scaremongering headlines, tbh.

Cathmandooo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

oh great, now we'll have more young ones getting off their heads on cocktails and claiming they were "spiked".

Most rapes are committed by people you know.

Alcohol is the single largest contributor to rapes.

Those 80,000 tablets will most likely be consumed by people for recreation not dropped willy nilly into some young ones drink.

Lets lay off the sky is falling down talk. It's too early in the day for such nonsense.

If this thread causes one person to be extra vigilant and prevents a rape then it's worth it. I don't think anyone was panicking and saying that the sky is falling down.

ArseBurger

Táck wrote: »

no you could be lucky and find a homosexual man willing to rape you.

Men get raped too.

Are you belittling them for it? Tut tut.

Mr. Incognito

If this thread causes one person to be extra vigilant and prevents a rape then it's worth it. I don't think anyone was panicking and saying that the sky is falling down.

If women stopped drinking themselves into oblivion, leaving themselves in vunerable positions and blaming faceless boogey men rapists and actually examined the fact that most rapes are cased by people when they are passed out from drink they know they might have a handle to better prevent rapes.

Even the title thread is inaccurate sensationalist rubbish.

I had to literally scoop a young one up who was hanging onto a wall outside Wheelans last week, ring her mates and get her in a cab home. Her drink wasn't spiked. She was just hammered on vodka.

RxQueen

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

oh great, now we'll have more young ones getting off their heads on cocktails and claiming they were "spiked".

Most rapes are committed by people you know.

Alcohol is the single largest contributor to rapes.

Those 80,000 tablets will most likely be consumed by people for recreation not dropped willy nilly into some young ones drink.

Lets lay off the sky is falling down talk. It's too early in the day for such nonsense.

They're are not committed by people you know that whole time bit of a sweeping statment doncha think..

RxQueen

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

If women stopped drinking themselves into oblivion, leaving themselves in vunerable positions and blaming faceless boogey men rapists and actually examined the fact that most rapes are cased by people when they are passed out from drink they know they might have a handle to better prevent rapes.

Even the title thread is inaccurate sensationalist rubbish.

I had to literally scoop a young one up who was hanging onto a wall outside Wheelans last week, ring her mates and get her in a cab home. Her drink wasn't spiked. She was just hammered on vodka.

oh yeah cause the woman was drunk , somehow she deserved to get rape right??

Ffs it shouldnt happen to anyone drunk or not

Mr. Incognito

Look the facts are well documented but we don't see a thread saying,

Ladies please drink responsibly and if you intend to get destroyed drunk make sure you are with good friends who will mind you.

I have not suggested that it is women's own fault or that women deserve to get raped.

What I AM suggesting is that if you want to prevent rapes, you should examine the cause of them. One of the largest causes unfortunately is alcohol, by both the rapists and victim. There's no point having your hand over your vodka if you intend to drink 20 of them. I'm not BLAMING anyone for this. I'm merely pointing out it happens.

If it is more comforting for you to think that there are big bad faceless monsters out there dropping perscription pills into random people's drinks you go and cling to that vestige. Yes, I'm sure that happens but it is a tiny tiny fraction of rapes. Starting sensationalist threads like this does nothing more than contribute to the dis-information out there.

As to the point on people you know- have a look at the research, I'm not going to link statistics but do a quick google yourself- rape is a horribly under-reported crime but it mean average seems to be 70-80% are committed by people known to the victim contributing both to the underreporting and one of the reasons that people do not press charges.

RxQueen

did it ever occur to you that maybe some women dont have to think that they're "big bad faceless monsters" and might actually know 1st hand..

tarring everyone with the same brush annoy's me so much.. ie to quote you "oh great, now we'll have more young ones getting off their heads on cocktails and claiming they were "spiked".".

g'em

Title edited.

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

If it is more comforting for you to think that there are big bad faceless monsters out there dropping perscription pills into random people's drinks you go and cling to that vestige. Yes, I'm sure that happens but it is a tiny tiny fraction of rapes. Starting sensationalist threads like this does nothing more than contribute to the dis-information out there.

Would you ever calm the fook down? You're churning out quite a bit of sensationalist drivel yourself there.

How about instead of lambasting people you can do exactly as you've advised and go about educating the readers instead of making the "women drunk = more reason for rape than the spiking excuse" (like it or not, that's how your post comes across.).

Mr. Incognito wrote:

Look the facts are well documented

Show me.

P.S. I'm keeping a close eye on this - the OP discusses the raid of a Pharma company and Rohyponol and sedatives being stolen. If you want to debate rape go to Humanities.

Cathmandooo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

If women stopped drinking themselves into oblivion, leaving themselves in vunerable positions and blaming faceless boogey men rapists and actually examined the fact that most rapes are cased by people when they are passed out from drink they know they might have a handle to better prevent rapes.

Even the title thread is inaccurate sensationalist rubbish.

I had to literally scoop a young one up who was hanging onto a wall outside Wheelans last week, ring her mates and get her in a cab home. Her drink wasn't spiked. She was just hammered on vodka.

In no way did I deny that alcohol is a huge factor of women being raped. I completely agree with that and I don't think you're saying they deserve it either. But the topic here is about Rohypnol, not alcohol. I felt you were just rubbishing the topic on hand but maybe it will prevent one rape? Do you not think that's worth it? If you want to raise awareness of how abuse of alcohol can lead to rape then I believe that merits its own new thread as it is also an important topic for both men and women.

Mr. Incognito

Show me.

Alcohol and sexual assault

http://www.athealth.com/Practitioner/ceduc/alc_assault.html

Dublin Rape Crisis Statistics

Strangers are 32%
Other known people are 37%
Boyfriends are 9%
Husband Partner are 5%

Date rape is 8% (doesn't distinguish if they are strangers or known)

http://www.drcc.ie/stats/visit-jan01-dec01.htm

Dublin Rape Crisis Network

Male Relative 53.8%
Neighbour 11%
Friends 10%
Other (presumably strangers) 6.3%

RAINN Network

73% of victims know their assailants

http://www.rainn.org/statistics


This thread sensationalises one minority aspect of rape because the bad guy is easily identified. The stranger date rapists. Rape is not like that in the main.

shellyboo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

This thread sensationalises one minority aspect of rape because the bad guy is easily identified. The stranger date rapists. Rape is not like that in the main.

So we should ignore the possibilty that we'll get date raped because it doesn't usually happen like that?

Mr. Incognito

Oh I give up.

Rape is a horrible horrible crime that needs to be eradicated and yet every second week we have a thread on date rape/ was your drink spiked horror stories etc.

You are scaremongering women. You are over inflating one minority rapist group and excluding the other 70-80% of perpetrators just because you don't want to face the fact that rapists are generally people you know.

You go back to your campfire ghost stories. I doubt any of those pills make it to Dublin in any geise other than recreational drugs. There is no market in Ireland for date rape drugs. Alcohol does enough damage on it's own.

I'm out.

g'em

Jebus. And we're accused of being overly dramatic?

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Rape is a horrible horrible crime that needs to be eradicated and yet every second week we have a thread on date rape/ was your drink spiked horror stories etc.

In this forum a search reveals ONE thread entitled "Have you ever had your drink spiked?". There are 8 threads (excluding this one) that mention Rohypnol but none of them discuss it seriously.

Mr. Incognito wrote:

You are scaremongering women. You are over inflating one minority rapist group and excluding the other 70-80% of perpetrators just because you don't want to face the fact that rapists are generally people you know.

As I've said, if you would like to discuss other elements of rape start a new (appropriate) thread. Just because this thread isn't going the way you want it to there's no need to throw a tantrum.

As I said earlier I've already learnt in this thread that Rohypnol is used recreationally, and that prompted me to have a quick Google and read more about it. So that's one woman who's been further educated...

We can't do anything about people we know raping us. We can't do anything about people we trust and care about taking advantage of that and committing a crime so horrific and devastating that it can damage us for hte rest of our lives. What we CAN do is take control in some very small way and educate ourselves about drugs like this that we may never come across, but are still at risk of, even if is in a teeny tiny way.

NO-ONE here is saying that alcohol is not a factor, of course it is, but this thread is about Rohypnol, simple as. NO-ONE is saying that alcohol should not be discussed and warned about, but this. Thread. Is. About. Rohyphol.

Kintarō Hattori

emo!! wrote: »

oh yeah cause the woman was drunk , somehow she deserved to get rape right??

Ffs it shouldnt happen to anyone drunk or not

I don't believe he was saying that because a lady might be drunk she deserves to be raped. I think the poster was stating that anyone, male or female, who gets very drunk leves themselves in a vulnerable position and unable to defend against someone who might want to harm them.

g'em

[I have access to the full article pdf, if anyone wants it PM me but I'll just put up the findings here]

Alleged drug facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2005. A study of blood alcohol levels (2008) Hall et al. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine


...The project was limited to the study of cases where toxicology requests were made for forensic analysis and which were entered onto the FSNI database.

As the number of requests increased each year, more cases were shown to contain alcohol and this trend appears to increase throughout the study period. In addition, the number of cases where high or very high alcohol levels were found also increased over the study period. Further studies are essential to continue monitoring these trends in subsequent years.

The involvement of drugs in DFSA was unclear, despite widespread speculation of drink-spiking in social situations. The study found that the number of cases containing drugs, other than alcohol, doubled within the years studied. By 2005, identification of analgesics rose by 60%, benzodiazepines by 100%, recreational drugs by 300% and antidepressants by 500%. The greatest difference in drug identification, from 1999 to 2005, was found within the antidepressant and recreational groups and included drugs such as citalopram (×4), venlafaxine (×2), cannabis (×6), cocaine (×1) and ecstasy (×2), although the numbers were relatively small. These trends should give rise to serious concerns.

This study, like others, has failed to identify a specific previous date-rape drug, such as GHB or previous Rohypnol term (flunitrazepam). Delays in reporting are thought to have created the same problems in identification of possible culprits such as GHB, due to its rapid metabolism and elimination. Delayed or even non-reporting of sexual offences, for forensic purposes, is not unique to Northern Ireland.

A prospective study is now required in Northern Ireland in order to establish a more accurate picture of the involvement of alcohol and drugs in cases of alleged sexual assault, from both forensic and therapeutic settings. This mirrors the need for more accurate information within England and Wales, “to tackle drug facilitated sexual assault and find out the true extent of the problem.”

A consultation exercise has been initiated within Northern Ireland to develop a Regional Strategy to address Sexual Violence. Hidden Crimes, Secret Pain. A consultation paper on a proposed regional strategy for addressing sexual violence in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland office and the department of health, social services and public safety. Viewed at www.dhsspsni.gov.uk. 02/02/07.10 One of the initial tasks of this exercise is to “understand the nature and extent of sexual violence and to plan and evaluate preventative interventions and develop support services.” To address these proposals, the consultation document states, “It will be essential to establish a more complete picture of incidence/prevalence [of sexual violence], and to understand more about victims, their abusers, the context in which the abuse takes place, the impact it has, and the patterns of disclosure.”

One possible mechanism, which could be employed in future studies, (with permission), would be the use of a DFSA questionnaire, similar to that in Appendix A, Operation Matisse, which would be completed when a case first presents, to either a therapeutic or forensic environment. Additionally, a more accurate picture of the true incidence of DFSA cases might be obtained if all reported victims of sexual assault were requested to provide blood and urine samples at the time of the medical examination for toxicology screening to ascertain drug and alcohol levels at the relevant time.

So alcohol is a given contributor. But the use of drugs is unclear, and it seems that while drugs can be a factor, drugs other than Rohypnol are more commonplace.

Their sampling was small (n max = 20) but I guess it always will be in these studies. The other thing that I guess has to be considered is that given that there was a sharpest rise in analgesics, how many women could have been taking those themselves?

Pingu

Extracts From a 2003 Paper By Abbey et al. from Wayne State University MI

Approximately half of all sexual assaults are associated with either the perpetrator’s alcohol consumption, the victim’s alcohol consumption, or both.

There is support for both psychological and pharmacological mechanisms linking alcohol and sexual assault. Beliefs about alcohol’s effects reinforce stereotypes about gender roles and can exacerbate their influence on perpetrators’ actions. Alcohol’s effects on cognitive and motor skills also contribute to sexual assault
through their effects on perpetrators’ and victims’ ability to process and react to each other’s verbal and nonverbal behavior.

Our understanding of the causes, circumstances, and consequences of sexual assault have increased greatly during the past 30 years. Yet, much is still unknown, particularly about alcohol’s role in sexual assault. Alcohol is described as a risk factor in most college acquaintance rape programs; however, they do not provide concrete, realistic prevention plans based on this information (Bohmer & Parrot, 1993).

Sexual assault and alcohol researchers need to collaborate with prevention and treatment practioners to develop wellinformed prevention strategies for college and noncollege populations. If substance abuse therapists have ideas about strategies to reduce men’s aggressiveness when drinking, these can be tested in laboratory studies before being implemented in prevention programs.

I know it's alcohol related rather than prescription Drug. But it seems to suggest that risk factors are known, however that effective ways of reducing/negating them are not.

I think from a policy and awareness point of view this is quite worrying.

Galvasean

Nerin wrote: »

Bloody hell,i hope its just for junkies and not for the other uses...

Weird, that was my initial reaction too. However after thinking about it I'd rather the police seized said drugs, catching the thieves and neither was the case.

Nerin

Galvasean wrote: »

Weird, that was my initial reaction too. However after thinking about it I'd rather the police seized said drugs, catching the thieves and neither was the case.

This perfect world you live in,i wish to travel to it
Agreed,perfect situation would be catch them and stop them.

But knowing that the world is really bad,i hope that at very least they were stolen for the junkies.
The idea of them being used on anyone sickens me and makes my blood boil.

Hopefully everyone will be careful out there,(both minding their drinks from being spiked,or not drinking to much) but again, not a perfect world.

shellyboo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Oh I give up.

Rape is a horrible horrible crime that needs to be eradicated and yet every second week we have a thread on date rape/ was your drink spiked horror stories etc.

This isn't one of those threads though... it's reporting a real-life event that did happen. The OP did not come on and say "OMG WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET RAPED NAO", just imparted a news story.

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

You are scaremongering women. You are over inflating one minority rapist group and excluding the other 70-80% of perpetrators just because you don't want to face the fact that rapists are generally people you know.

"We" are? Who's we? The women in this forum? I've never seen a thread on drink spiking in this forum. Elsewhere on boards, maybe, but never in here. So I'm not sure why you're accusing us of scaremongering when all we're doing is discussing an event that happened.

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

You go back to your campfire ghost stories. I doubt any of those pills make it to Dublin in any geise other than recreational drugs. There is no market in Ireland for date rape drugs. Alcohol does enough damage on it's own.

I'm out.

That right there is what I would call a valid point.

Coming on accusing us of scaremongering and implying that we're all irresponsible idiots is not helping get your point across.

Galvasean

Nerin wrote: »

But knowing that the world is really bad,i hope that at very least they were stolen for the junkies.

I doubt they wewre stolen for any specific purpose other than to sell at the highest profit possible. Whether the drugs are being used for recreational purposes by junkies, date-rape drugs by sleazeballs or to create a baboon-human hybrid by mad scientists is most likely no concern of the thieves once they get their money.

Dragan

It shouldn't really take something like this for people to be vigilant. There is a normal level of vigilance that goes with keeping yourself alive. These tend to diminish when you are under the influence of anything.

Das Kitty

I'm kinda on the fence between Incognito and the Ladies on this one.

Whilst I do believe that knowing about Rohypnol and date rape is a good thing and being vigilant with your drink etc is important, I do think focusing all the attention on Drugged Drinks is a bad thing in general.

It leads people to believe that if I look after my drink and make sure no one pops anything into it I'll be fine and won't get raped.

It also leads those raped in these cases to believe that they have been drugged, when in reality it is rarely the case and more likely a reaction to alcohol that got them in that state.

People assess risk based on estimation, they will estimate the risk on the likelihood of it happening, this is a good thing. However the media skew this by reporting the most dramatic events.

For example, you're somewhat likely to be killed by your toaster if you're not careful. It's hugely unlikely you'll be killed by flying on a plane (both statistically), yet how many people are afraid of making toast?

I think that playing up the most dramatic stories in the TV News Entertainment Programmes and Press (the way most of us digest news) is detrimental. People fear things that are far less likely to harm them than a lot of stuff they don't think twice about.

This is one of the main reasons I don't watch news anymore.

Hamiltonion

Kinetic^ wrote: »

To the first 2 posters,as a man am I not to be worried too or does having a penis make you immune to date rape drugs?

+1. Whilst drinking in un-named student bar with a female friend a few months back both of us had our drinks spiked. Luckily we've both a pretty high tolerance to most substances at this point and hadnt drank much so it wasnt too bad, both got home fine, but boy was i sick the next day as was my friend. And the crowd we'd randomly met and were having a few pints with were student female dental assistants!:eek:

JC 2K3

One of the most common pharmacuticals to be used recreationally. It's rep as a date rape drug is largely the product of tabloid scaremongering. Sadly, most people don't look much further than that for information about drugs in general.

80,000 roofies available on the street isn't a big reason for concern regarding potential rapes.

Orla K

I don't know if there is any truth in this, I heard/read it years ago maybe someone else would have a better idea but, when a proper company makes drugs that are could be used as a date rape drug they put something into it that it changes colour when put into an alcoholic drink (I think the colour is blue).

Again I don't know if this is true.

Photojoe

Date rape drugs are a myth perpetuated to absolve women of guilt from being drunken slags.

amacachi

Orla K wrote: »

I don't know if there is any truth in this, I heard/read it years ago maybe someone else would have a better idea but, when a proper company makes drugs that are could be used as a date rape drug they put something into it that it changes colour when put into an alcoholic drink (I think the colour is blue).

Again I don't know if this is true.

It's either Rohynol or GHB, can't remember which, has a very strong and minging taste and smell. That's before it's treated or anything else.

sunnyjim

I have to say though, that people are far more aware of the possibility of date rape these days. Even night-club bouncers have, in my opinion, become more vigilent. I hate them most of the time, but when I see bouncers checking on women leaving a club - even very subtly - it makes me feel that bit less worried for my sister or my friends who might get into a spot of bother.

Elle Victorine

Photojoe wrote: »

Date rape drugs are a myth perpetuated to absolve women of guilt from being drunken slags.

wonders never cease.




I think women should be cautious anyway with regard to this. I never take drinks off people I don't know and I never leave them unattended. Very simple thing to do to avoid any possibility of things going wrong. Only reason I'd be worried about it is because I know friends who've been in this position and not because they were too drunk to be out of harms way. they weren't drinking alcohol at all.

However. I have seen it abused by some girls as an excuse for being too drunk and youngfellas too. This does not preclude the genuine incidence of it occuring.


Anyway I thought this was a huge joke when i first heard it because it happened a few months ago as well but there's no harm in being extra careful as far as i can see anyway.