Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto will request updates from police and the Greater Victoria School District about efforts to raise awareness among youth of “date-rape drugs,” in the wake of recent incidents.
Last month, an Oak Bay teen spent six hours unconscious in Royal Jubilee Hospital after her drink was allegedly spiked at a house party with a central-nervous-system depressant called GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid.
The Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit is also investigating the 2021 death of a Victoria teenager whose mother maintains her daughter was fatally drugged with GHB.
A letter from the mayor will also be sent to the provincial ministers of education and health.
Coun. Matt Dell said he wants to know what kind of information high schools are providing their students about date-rape drugs, which include GHB and Rohypnol, also known as “roofies.”
“This should not be happening at parties,” said Dell, who noted that some nightclubs have been raising awareness of the issue with posters, and by providing safe-drink spots where clients can leave their beverages and offering free lids for drinks.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said it’s important the city makes clear that it takes the issue seriously.
“It’s also an opportunity for us as community leaders, but also as parents, to be having conversations with the boys, frankly, in our lives, our sons, brothers, male friends,” said Caradonna. “We need to be having a conversation and saying this is just not acceptable as a community.”
Victoria Chief Const. Del Manak, who addressed council last week, said incidents of drinks being spiked with date-rape drugs are likely under-reported, and the cases police do hear about are often difficult to investigate.
“Obviously there’s perishable evidence and usually we get the report the next morning,” he said. “We take these reports very seriously and we are always looking for trends and how we can work with our licensed premises.”
Manak said GHB, which is also used recreationally, is being produced illegally as a street drug, and awareness and education campaigns are key in combating the problem.
Forensic toxicologist Dr. Aaron Shapiro said a person would be hard-pressed to detect the almost tasteless and colourless GHB if it was slipped unnoticed into a flavourful drink, and detection of the date-rape drug after consumption is also difficult.
“The reason it’s been classified as a date-rape drug is because it’s actually quite hard to detect,” said Shapiro.
Shapiro, associate scientific director of the provincial toxicology centre at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, said GHB is a naturally occurring chemical in the body, so if a blood or urine test shows extremely high levels “we know that’s from outside use.”
If the level is moderate, however, it becomes more tricky. “It could be either just naturally circulating levels, or it could be someone who was exposed to the drug and then it metabolized to the point where it’s low now, and we can’t differentiate between the two,” he said.
Depending on the circumstances, it might be detected in the blood for up to five or sometimes 12 hours, but not everyone would know to test for it in that time period, he said.
Someone who has been incapacitated for a period of time then wakes up and realizes what’s happened is unlikely to go to hospital, said Shapiro, adding that by then, it’s usually too late for a blood sample to be collected for GHB.
Shapiro said if someone suspects they have been drugged with GHB, “timing is really important to get samples collected.” GHB is not a drug that hospitals typically test for directly, he said.
Shapiro said GHB has a sedating effect similar to that of benzodiazapines such as Xanax and Valium.
The drug is known to result in memory loss, incapacitation, confusion, clumsiness, exhaustion and loss of consciousness, and “there’s the potential for hallucinations,” he said. It has the ability to slow down the heart and in extreme cases, can cause the heart to stop, Shapiro said.
But in cases that lead to death, a bigger issue is the effects on the brain, he said — GHB suppresses the brain’s ability to monitor the amount of carbon dioxide that builds up and trigger the lungs to breathe more deeply and faster when there’s too much. Fentanyl works in a similar way.
Shapiro noted that substances that can incapacitate someone aren’t limited to GHB — alcohol is “probably the most common one,” but over-the-counter medications, sleep aids, cough syrups and prescription drugs can also be used to sedate someone.
Manak encouraged anyone who believes their drink was spiked, even if they don’t have evidence, to report it to police so they can investigate and look for patterns. “It’s a criminal offence — the penalty is extremely serious if you are introducing drugs into somebody’s drink,” he said.
The police chief said people should also be aware of their surroundings when they’re drinking.
“Just to be mindful of who’s giving them the drink, having control of their drink, not leaving their drink unattended, drinking their drink slowly, if it tastes different, making sure that friends are looking after each other, just being a little bit more savvy and aware,” he said.
GHB can have a slightly salty taste, but Shapiro said if someone is drinking a flavoured drink, it would be unlikely to taste the drug. “It’s not a person’s fault that this happens to them.”
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