Date-rape drug? No dear, you just had too much to drink



Date-rape drugs are largely an urban myth used as an excuse by women who booze themselves into a stupor, it has been claimed.

They are willing to 'hide behind' the idea that a stranger poured poison in their drink - rather than face up to the fact that they had simply been binge drinking.

Interviews with more than 200 female students in and around London revealed they often mistakenly linked sickness, blackouts and dizziness to poisoning by a stranger, when excessive alcohol consumption is much more likely to be the cause.

Urban myth: Young women who fear they have been poisoned with a date rape drug have often just drunk too much alcohol, researchers say

Dr Adam Burgess, from the University of Kent school of social policy, said rumours about the prevalence of date-rape drugs were little more than an urban myth.

This led young women to underestimate real risks of alcohol misuse, which can include impaired judgment putting them at risk of sexual assault.

'The reason why fear of drink-spiking has become widespread seems to be a mix of it being more convenient to guard against than the effects of alcohol itself and the fact that such stories are exotic - like a more adult version of "stranger danger".'

The study, published in the British Journal of Criminology, found that three quarters of students identified drink-spiking as leading to an important risk of sexual assault - more than drinking too much alcohol.



Drink tampering was rated as a more significant factor in sexual-assault than drug taking, being drunk or walking at night in a high-crime area.

More than half of those in the survey said they knew someone who claimed to have had drugs slipped into their drink.

But despite such popular beliefs, police have found no evidence that rape victims are commonly drugged with substances such as rohypnol.

Dr Burgess said: 'There have hardly been any cases where it has been proved that sedatives such as rohypnol and GHB have been used in a rape incident. Yet it has been a storyline that has appeared in virtually every TV soap.

'Maybe that tells us something about the programmes these women are watching. But it is concerning that women are more concerned about something that is incredibly unlikely ever to happen to them.'