On the Rohypnol Trail

The Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat Carlos Munoz, owner of Farmacia Galeno, said that Rohypnol wasn't a well known drug among Americans

But take this scenario: It's Friday night and you're cruisin' with the girls down Speedway. A group of decent-looking guys pulls up next to your car and asks you to follow them. You end up at one of the neighborhood college hangouts. You shoot the shit, you flaunt your stuff, you challenge a good-looking guy to a game of pool. He gets you a drink. Harmless, right? You wake up the next morning in a hotel room and your clothes are strewn across the carpet - a condom is laying next to you in the bed. Funny, the last thing you remember was ordering a plate of nachos.

Although the odds of something like this happening are slim, it is not out of the question at the UA. It could happen when a drug called Rohypnol (a name brand pronounced row-hip-nol) is slipped into a drink - anything from orange juice to Coca Cola. You can't taste it, smell it or see it, but Rohypnol has the ability to leave its victim incapacitated, vulnerable to both robbery and rape.

Generically known as flunitrazepam, it is also commonly referred to as "roofies," "roaches," "R2," "circles," and the "date rape drug." The drug's psychological effects are similar to valium, except that it is 10 times more potent and the effects begin within 10 minutes of ingestion and peak within two hours.

Victims experience decreased blood pressure, drowsiness, dizziness, confusion and, what could be its scariest effect, memory loss that can span as long as eight hours.

The drug, which has been banned in the United States since March, is made worldwide, particularly in Latin America and Europe by Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. It is available in more than 60 other countries with a prescription and is primarily used to treat sleeping disorders and to wean addicts off of cocaine. According to a November article in Security Management, Rohypnol is especially popular in Florida, California and Texas where it is smuggled into the country from Mexico or Colombia.

With Mexico less than two hours from campus, the Wildcat sent an investigative reporter to the border town of Nogales just before the winter break to see if buying the drug and smuggling it into the U.S. is as common as rumored. Actually, doing so is much tougher than the rumours indicated.

The first stop was FarmacŒa Leon, where manager Miguel Soto said his store has not sold the drug for six to eight months. He said those wishing to buy Rohypnol needed a prescription from a doctor, which makes the drug more readily available.

Soto also said many doctors do not ask if there is a medical problem when they give out prescriptions - they just sell their "expertise."

"Most doctors will sell prescriptions for $30," he said.

Soto said he believes abuse of Rohypnol is more of a local problem than a problem in the United States.

"The locals combine it with beer and they get more happy," he said.

He explained that with one prescription a person can buy two boxes of the drug, for a total of 60 pills. A box of 30 pills is typically sold for $4.45.

So doctors sell their prescriptions, eh? A couple blocks away from FarmacŒa Leon, at the office of Dr. Salvador Cantu Valenzuela spoke to the Wildcat about prescriptions for Rohypnol.

He said there are doctors who sell prescriptions and that he used to prescribe Rohypnol to cocaine addicts to help them quit.

"I've stopped giving (Rohypnol) prescriptions," he said. "Other doctors may prescribe it, but in my case I don't prescribe Rohypnol for nothing."

Valenzuela said he would not give the prescriptions because the drug is very dangerous and it is not safe to be circulating among young adults.

"It's a hypnotic. Lots of youngsters use it for hypnosis," he says. "They lose touch with reality."

He said that if a person has the tendency to be violent, they usually get violent when they are on the drug and that it makes people lose their moral values.

Dr. Valenzuela added, however, that it is possible to buy the drug without a prescription. He said Rohypnol is readily available on the streets and in the black market.

Soto also held this belief:

"I think the labs are selling it to the black market," he said. "Within the black market, a single pill sells for $2."

The reporter headed back to the states to find what the Boarder Patrol had to say about the traffic of Rohypnol between Mexico and the United States.

Throughout the customs inspection building, signs were posted with the warning that Rohypnol is illegal to carry into the United States.

"If I caught someone using that drug on my daughter, I would kill him," was the first thing Donald Domke , a 20-year supervisory customs inspector said , when asked about Rohypnol.

He said the signs have been posted for about two months and that they are there to advise people "not to even try bringing Rohypnol into the United States."

Although Domke said he has not seen many people trying to sneak the drug across the border in the past few weeks, the drug has been a big enough problem to warrant the posting of the signs.

"In the past 20 years, this is one of the biggest problems I have had to face," he said. "The signs show the degree of the concern and American reaction. We don't do that for everything."

Domke said he catches Rohypnol smugglers in the same fashion he catches all other illegal substance smugglers.

"A lot of times people take the drug out of the original boxes, put the pills in plastic baggies and stuff it down their socks," he said.

So, Rohypnol is a problem in Mexico. But does that mean students have to worry about it here at the UA? Stephanie Ives, a health educator for Campus Health Service, does not think so.

"I think it has been blown greatly out of proportion," she said. "You can find it in Tucson and in other southern states, but it is not a big problem here."

Ives said that people like to talk about Rohypnol but binge drinking is more of a problem because it is more socially accepted.

She said, however, some cases of Rohypnol abuse exist.

"The problem with Rohypnol is that a person needs to be tested specifically to find it," Ives said. "It will not show up in a regular drug screen."

Ways to avoid from being a victim of Rohypnol include never leaving drinks unattended and only drinking moderate levels of alcohol.

Harry Hueston II, deputy chief of the University of Arizona Police Department, said when students go to parties, they should use some sort of buddy system.

"Your friends should be around you all night long."

He also said that if a student suspects a friend has been given Rohypnol to take that friend to the hospital right away.

"It is so absurd," he said. "Within 14 to 16 hours there are no more traces of the drug in a person's system."

Hueston said there have been six reported incidents of the drug in assault cases around the university area during the past year.

"Just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist," he says. "We are the last ones to hear about it."

"In the residence halls and the Greek system you may find it a lot, but we do not hear about it because it is usually not reported," he said.

Getting students just to talk about the issue is difficult. Many students admitted hearing about incidents involving Rohypnol on campus, but all asked to remain anonymous.

Hueston said he believes Rohypnol is "alive and well on campus" and that women are not the only victims.

"Men can also be drugged and then robbed," he said.

Depending upon the abuser's record, a person caught with Rohypnol can be charged with a felony, given a serious fine, years of probation, drug treatment or time in prison, Hueston said.

So be heads up. Watch your drink. Be smart. Using your head may save you from being a victim.