'Date-rape' drugs on the rise, UN warns

A UN report is warning of a growing danger in the unchecked abuse of prescription drugs that it said could get worse in countries that lack appropriate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. The United Nations drug control agency's annual report shows that there is widespread abuse of drugs such as morphine, codeine and methadone, calling it a "hidden problem". The report calls on individual governments to take appropriate action to prevent the misuse of modern communication technology that has made it easier to circumvent detection in the supply of such drugs. In some countries, more people are abusing these drugs than the combined number of people taking heroin, cocaine and ecstasy, it says. In the US alone, this amounts to 6.2 million people. According to the agency, the use of the so-called date-rape drugs, which are used by sexual abusers to target women, is rampant in some countries, mostly in the West, where they are easily available. Recently, a Dar es Salaam-based physician told The Citizen that the local medical fraternity was aware of the abuse of the strictly "prescription only" drugs. The extent of the abuse is, however, still undocumented. The doctor said although such drugs were available and used in hospitals, their accessibility was restricted for special use only. "They are only used on patients in intensive pain or preparing for surgery," he said. He hinted that even when such drugs are used, attendants are supposed to keep the empty bottles for record and other approvals. But the doctor admitted that the misuse of such drugs was also a matter of concern in the country. "I cannot confirm who uses them, and how they get them, but I have many times heard such reports,” he said. The UN Narcotics Control Board says tough measures against the best-known date-rape drug, Rohypnol, have worked. But sexual abusers are turning to alternative substances subject to less stringent international controls.
It wants these placed on governments' controlled substances lists and for manufacturers to develop safety features such as dyes and flavourings. Prof Hamid Ghodse, of the International Narcotics Control Board, said: "These drugs are used so as to tremendously reduce people's resistance to unwanted sexual activity and then subsequently they might not even remember what happened." In the UK, ketamine, an anaesthetic, has been a class-C drug since January 2006, while the solvent GBL, or gamma-butyrolactone, was one of a number of "legal highs" that became class-C drugs last year. But both substances also have legitimate uses, making it harder to keep them out of the hands of criminals. In March 2009, London taxi driver John Worboys was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a series of female passengers in the back of his cab. Worboys gave his victims drinks laced with sedatives. Many of the women could only recall falling asleep in his taxi before waking up at home. Others were left with flashbacks and vague memories of Worboys sitting beside them. Drug traffickers are also increasingly using illegal pharmacies based overseas, the report says. Orders are placed via the Internet or telephone call centres, with no prescription or other authorisation required. India is identified as one of the main sources of these transactions.

SOURCE: Citizen newspaper