Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Out Cold

Margaret Watters

It was a Tuesday night. Miami University sophomore Lauren Massie didn't usually go out on Tuesday nights, but rumors of a potential snow day had the then first-year realigning her priorities.

Massie headed to a fraternity house with her best girlfriends. According to Massie, it was a small party with approximately 25 people in attendance. Massie said she knew most of the people at the party and felt comfortable with the environment.

The last thing Massie was expecting was for her night to flip from fun to frightening.

"It just cuts out," Massie said. "Apparently, we got all the way uptown and went to Stadium (Sports Bar & Grille). Apparently, I was just standing there and fell straight over."

Rohypnol, more commonly referred to as roofies or date rape drugs, has a crippling effect on college campuses. For Massie and other students, the use of roofies continues to go both under-reported and over used.

Massie was fortunate.

The manager of Stadium drove Massie and her friends home, where she was later put to bed.

"I was so lucky that I had been around those people," Massie said. "It's a scary thing to think what could have happened if I wasn't with them."

When Massie woke up the next morning, she said she had no idea what had happened or how she had gotten back.

Yet for Massie, she knows her experience is not simply a case of overconsumption of alcohol. Massie said she was an experienced drinker and knew the night's events did not solely have alcohol to blame. Massie said she woke up the next morning knowing she had been the victim of the classic date rape drug.

That morning, Massie said she wished she had only suffered from a hangover. Massie described the aches and her disoriented state with a voice flecked with fear.

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"You think Miami is just the perfect place with such nice kids," Massie said. "You wouldn't ever think something like this would happen here."

"Forget me pills"

According to Sarah Skolnick, a nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center, Rohypnol, commonly called "roofies" or "forget me pills", produces symptoms like drowsiness, loss of inhibition or extreme intoxication, blackouts, memory loss, confusion, nausea, loss of coordination and difficulty breathing. The drug can come in powder or small white tablets.

For Massie, the symptoms of rohypnol are different than those of intoxication.

"I know when I've (had too much to drink) but it's a completely different feeling," Massie said.

Massie admitted that because she felt comfortable, she didn't take her usual precaution of watching her drink.

According to a document issued by the Miami University and Oxford police departments (OPD), Rohypnol is 10 times stronger than valium. The document says that the narcotic, if combined with alcohol or marijuana, can induce the body into a highly depressed state which may lead to a coma and later death.

As for its presence in Oxford, the OPD has little record of Rohypnol.

Sgt. Jim Squance said that the OPD has not had any recent cases that can be verified.

Squance said that for a case to be verified, the victim has to go a hospital and go through the proper tests to check for the drug's presence in their system.

While reports of Rohypnol are not prevalent at Miami, instances still exist.

James Hall, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova Southeastern University, has studied Rohypnol usage. As a member of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG), a network comprised of major drug abuse researchers, Hall said the effects of Rohypnol are literally paralyzing for the victim.

"A person does not remember what occurs while they are under the influence of the drug," Hall said. "It puts the person in a deep, deep sleep that makes it quite difficult for an individual to wake up, even if they're being assaulted. It's a dream-like condition where they aren't physically able to move."

In a nationwide study conducted by the CEWG, Hall said that during the past three years, 95 cases of Rohypnol were reported in 303 hospital emergency rooms.

Thirty-seven percent of the cases involving Rohypnol were associated with what Hall calls malicious intent or intentionally giving someone the drug to induce a highly inebriated state. The rest of the cases, Hall said, stem from recreational drug use.

However, he said these reports of Rohypnol are low.

"These are extremely low numbers," Hall said. "At least they're not rapidly increasing."

Hall said the government has been successful in limiting the supply of Rohypnol since it's popularity peak in the 1990s.

Left unreported, unresolved

According to Squance, possession of Rohypnol is a third degree misdemeanor and selling it is a fourth degree felony that could result in jail time.

Squance said that if the Oxford Police Department would come across a case of possession or selling of Rohypnol, they would take the proper steps for prosecution.

One of the difficulties surrounding the enforcement of the illegal drug is that rohypnol is legal in Mexico as an over-the-counter sleep aide.

Because of the dangers associated with the drug, rohypnol was not approved by the Federal Drug Admission for sale in the United States. According to Hall, rohypnol is one of the few medications that is illegal to bring into the United States, even if someone has a prescription.

Despite the government's success in limiting rohypnol supply, Hall expressed concern over the use of the drug by college students.

"I am concerned however that you have local students saying that they've used it," Hall said. "It's not been a really big issue in the four or five years, so it's interesting to have that information."

Rohypnol's low reported numbers show the drug's decline since the 1990s. However, cases on college campuses show that the drug is still used in some instances.

According to Hall, the primary source for the drug in the 1990s was through Mexico. Hall's agency tracked the drug, noticing it followed the same path as migrant farm workers.

"That might be why there's an increase in southwestern Ohio," Hall said.

There has been a documented increase of immigrants in the area in the last five years.

In recent years, Hall said, people have begun substituting other drugs such as Clonazepam, known in the United States as Klonopin, and Alprazolam, known as Xanax, as a substitute for Rohypnol.

While information on the drug may be available, Squance said the issue of unreported cases remains a dilemma.

Squance said that because the drug leaves the body in 12 hours, many cases are left unreported.

Massie said she didn't report her case.

"I think it's just one of those things, like 'What could I say?'" Massie said. "What do they want me to say? I'd just be another statistic. I don't really know what they could have done."

Squance disagreed.

"We take these things very seriously," Squance said. "Even if she wasn't a victim of a sexual assault, it's still a crime."

Squance said that no matter the victim's choice to pursue legal action, the department would still value the information.

"If it happened at a certain bar (or) a certain place, we would like to know that, even if she didn't want to pursue it legally," Squance said. "That kind of information could help prevent someone else from being a victim."

Aside from reporting cases of Rohypnol, Skolnick said she has seen cases of women in which the drug may have been administered.

Skolnik said she has noticed an increase in women coming into the gynecology center saying that they were sexually assaulted and cannot remember what happened. She said she doesn't know if this can be attributed to Rohypnol or alcohol.

"It's a real concern for me because I'm seeing a lot of women that are scared," Skolnick said.

Stereotypes gone wrong

In response to Massie's night gone wrong, she said her male fraternity friends could not believe something like that could happen at their fraternity. Massie said her friends did not speak to Massie for a month, insisting she was simply overly intoxicated instead of being roofied.

"There was a month period where they were bitter to me," Massie said. "They would make comments and jokes about it. They didn't take it seriously at all."

Fraternity member Patrick Spiegel said he has lived in his fraternity house for almost a year and has not seen a roofie or heard of anyone using them.

Spiegel attributes the connection between fraternity boys and the usage of Rohypnol as simply a stereotype.

"The reason, as low as it is, (is that) it's a common conception that a guy would roofie a girl just to get with them," Spiegel said. "I just think it's ridiculous. I think it's crazy. Anyone who would have the sense to put a roofie in a drink is not a good person."

Spiegel said he thinks fraternities are targets for stereotypes and the Rohypnol one is just one of many.

"Anytime you have a large grouping of males, stereotypes pop up," Spiegel said. "You know the one about the fraternity (guy): some conceited guy that if he wants something, he gets it."

Spiegel said he has heard a lot of stories concerning roofies but said that the people he's spoken with are never positive that they were roofied instead of drinking too much.

Both Skolnick and Squance asserted that the drug of choice at Miami is alcohol.

Hall said that the Rohypnol's popularity began as a recreational drug. Similarly, Massie said she has friends that still use it for that purpose.

Massie said that Rohypnol, like all drugs, goes mostly unseen on Miami's campus.

"I have friends, who are into drugs, that think it's cool to roofie themselves," Massie said. "They think that it's fun, cool. That's beyond me. It's just becoming more of an available drug. It just takes one drop. People don't take it seriously."

Breaking the female stereotype, sophomore Chris Wille said he was roofied last year.

"I literally opened my eyes, and I was so sick that I couldn't even move," Wille said. "I didn't know where I was."

Wille said he woke up on his bedroom floor, unable to move.

The night has started out with a group of friends at Piano Man at Brickstreet Bar. The outing was a weekly tradition in which Wille said he always looked forward to.

"It was nothing out of the ordinary for me," Wille said.

Wille said he asked a female friend to have a mutual friend buy a drink, although the drink was intended for him.

By 2 a.m., Wille said he doesn't remember anything. His friends shouldered his 200 pounds and carried him home.

Wille said he knows the difference between being drunk and being drugged.

"I think people blame it on being blackout drunk," Wille said. "It's an entirely different thing. I've been blackout drunk. Something wasn't right, something was different."

When he woke, Wille said he felt like he couldn't move a limb to save his life.

Wille said he threw up for 15 hours before a friend took him to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital for blood work that later proved inconclusive. According to Willie, the hospital staff told Wille he had either been roofied or caught a bad case of the flu.

"I felt like death," Wille said.

Wille described his experience as a role reversal that unintentionally breaks the typical male stereotype. He said he doesn't know if his situation is common and said that most common cases he has heard of involved males administering Rohypnol to females.

Despite Wille's bad luck and the physical repercussions that ensued, Wille said he is relieved that he got the drink with the drug instead of his female friend.

"Look at what it did to me," Wille said. "It would have killed her. I can only imagine what it would do to her. She's 90 pounds, I'm 200."

Massie said she doesn't let her experience keep her from going out with friends, although she tries to be more careful. Massie advised watching drinks and not drinking from them once you set them down.

"Just know that it is out there and it can happen to you," Massie said.