Background
Rape and sexual assaults have become rampant worldwide, and the issue has become so controversial that many countries fail to deal with it. Despite vast technological advances overseas, there has been a derailment in dealing with the above crimes (Singh et al., 2020). The most affected people by sexual crimes are women and children. Unfortunately, rape is prevalent both in urban and rural areas and cuts across all people of social class.
Among many reasons that cause a high rate of sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse is the major one relating to the crime directly. Alcohol can escalate the situation or intoxication of some substances that render the victims to become helpless and vulnerable to exploitation (Singh et al., 2020). Date rape drugs are among the drugs used by the perpetrators to suppress the victims. They become helpless by lowering their physical strength to make it easy for them to take advantage of the situation (Paul & Mahesan 2019). Surprisingly, the drugs can affect mental health and make the victim forget everything. The perpetrators indulge in alcohol abuse to escape the blame and deny non-consensual sex.
Overview and ease of detection
Rape offense is a serious crime that leads the victims to face vital consequences like trauma. An assault can refer to any sexual act done without the other person’s consent. The problem is that consent can be compromised and impaired using drugs and other substances (Paul & Mahesan 2019). Date rape cases have increased and tally too many countries’ social problems. Date rape drugs are the drugs that are introduced to the victims to sedate and make them helpless and unconscious to the extent that they cannot counter back (Sonone et al., 2021). These date rape drugs raise the chances of assaults and non-consensual sex.
Alcohol
Alcohol is one of the drugs used in non-consensual sex as it is one of the date rape drugs. Excessive consumption of alcohol leads to unconsciousness that gives the perpetrators a chance to escalate assault advances. Singh et al. (2020) posit that more than 50% of sex assault reported cases are accrued to alcohol consumption by either the victim or both. Sadly, alcohol has been widely accepted as a kind of pleasure or recreational drug, especially by youths and high-class members of society (Sonone et al., 2021). Consumption of alcohol causes physical and cognitive disability. According to Singh et al. (2020), women are affected by alcohol consumption by causing perception impairment and cognitive and physical disability; hence, they unknowingly start to interact in a sexual manner. Women fail to recognize the perpetrators and assume consent since they are under the influence of alcohol.
Club drugs
Club drugs are drugs used in parties and clubs. Among the club, drugs include ketamine, Rohypnol, MDMA, and GHB. The drugs are widely used as date rape drugs since they have the ability to induce physical closeness and euphoria (Sonone et al., 2021). The drugs directly influence the thinking capacity and perception of the victims, making them vulnerable. Many of these drugs lack smell, color, and taste, rendering them unnoticeable when mixed with either food or any alcoholic drink. After taking the drink or food mixed with the drug, the victim forgets everything that happens. For example, one of the drugs, Rohypnol, quickly dissolves in drinks and is tasteless. In some places, such as Europe and Latin America, the drug is used as an anesthetic drug for insomnia treatment, but it is illegal in the USA (Paul & Mahesan 2019). Other date rape drugs are smoked and taken orally, but once the victim has passed out, they may not even realize the kind of drug they are using. This makes alcohol the trigger drug to consume other drugs at parties and clubs (Sonone et al., 2021). The predators take advantage when the victims excessively abuse alcohol to introduce these other substances in either their drinks or foods.
Many date rape drugs are used together with alcohol in recreational activities. Once both the perpetrator and the victim consume alcohol, their perception of sexual assault is influenced. The predators use the illusion to blame alcohol and substance abuse for their actions. The perpetrators claim that the victims did not resist any sexual advances. These give them the warrant to offend vulnerable groups. Children and women who get assaulted in parties and clubs fear reporting such cases since they fear being accused of underage drinking, leading to harsher punishments.
The most renowned person to use date rape drugs was Bill Cosby. A couple of women accused the offender of having sexually assaulted them, which led the celebrity to serve a jail term of up to 10 years. However, Terry (2012) argues that alcohol itself does not cause sexual offenses, but it activates or initiates sexual offenses. It psychologically triggers the action and gives the perpetrators justifications for their offenses. Sexual abuse and assaults have become controversial issues of discussion, and the use of date rape drugs has risen over the years. Surprisingly, these drugs pose a danger to the consumer and health issues. The perpetrators use these drugs since they perceive that the victims lose their memories, and recalling the whole scene will be difficult.
References
Paul, A., & Mahesan, A. (2019). Date Rape Drugs in Las Vegas. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 133, 98S.
Singh, G., Singh, P., & Jyoti, P. (2020). Date Rape Drugs in Sexual Assaults: A Threat to Indian Society. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(07), 2020.
Sonone, S. S., Jadhav, S., & Sankhla, M. S. (2021). A forensic aspect on drug facilitated sexual assault. Forensic Res Criminol Int J, 9(2), 59-63.
Terry, K. J. (2012). Sexual Offenses and Offenders: Theory, Practice, and Policy, 2nd Ed. Cengage Learning, VitalBook file.