Thursday, May 16, 1996

Officials Say 'Date-Rape Pill' Available, There's a Demand for It

By PEGGY FIKAC
Associated Press

AUSTIN - The sedative known as the date-rape pill is widely and cheaply available to young people in Texas despite the federal government's ban on importing it, officials said Wednesday.

"I predict that before the end of this year, you will see a death in Texas due to a Rohypnol overdose or because of its use with other sedative agents," said Marv Shepherd, director of the Center for Pharmacoeconomic Studies at the University of Texas' College of Pharmacy.

The March 5 import ban came after reports that the sleeping aid, which is 10 times stronger than Valium, was being used to spike the drinks of women who then were raped.

The drug also is misused to enhance the effect of other drugs and alcoholic beverages. Its effect on coordination at higher doses may be similar to alcohol intoxication and lead to memory impairment, officials said.

Rohypnol, manufactured overseas, isn't marketed in this country. But before the ban, travelers to the United States could bring in a three-month supply of the sleeping aid for personal use. It's approved for use in 64 countries.

High school and college students have been eager buyers of the drug, said John Moseman of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Houston office, comparing it to the Qualudes popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

"It's sort of a party drug, and that's why you find it in the clubs. You mix it with alcohol and it mellows you out," he said.

Just Tuesday, a man was arrested in Houston with 10,000 Rohypnol tablets, Moseman said. The pills can range in price from about 70 cents to $5 each, depending on how many are purchased at a time, he said.

"It's a cheap drug ... a lunch-money drug," Moseman said.

Officials with drug manufacturer Hoffman-La Roche say they've taken action to discourage Rohypnol's illegal use, including efforts to educate parents and a reduction in the number of distributors in Mexico. They said they continue to work with federal and state officials and support strict law enforcement.

The import ban "has stopped a lot of ... younger people from going across to the farmacia (Mexican pharmacy), picking it up and bringing it back across. You can't do that any more," Moseman said.
But that doesn't mean they aren't getting the drug.

"Now they're going to smuggle it," Moseman said. "I would say it's readily available. I would say that there's a demand for it. And the indication there is that there is an increase."

Jane Maxwell of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse said the drug has been reported all over the state, in rural as well as urban areas.

The agency is still compiling results from a survey of public school students, Ms. Maxwell said. But she said "there's no question" that its use is increasing and spreading.

As a sign of the drug's popularity, Ms. Maxwell displayed a T-shirt with the words Rohypnol and Roche printed on it.

"When it gets to the T-shirt stage, you've got a problem," she said.

Shepherd, who has studied the importation of Rohypnol, found more than 1.4 million tablets were declared at one bridge crossing at Laredo and brought into the United States between July 1994 and June 1995.

"I have anecdotal evidence that the ban on the drug has not decreased the supply, nor has it raised the price of the drug on the University of Texas campus," Shepherd said in a letter to Texas Health Commissioner David Smith. "I believe that through the summer Rohypnol abuse will continue to grow."