Date rape drugs

What can you do? How can you help?

Legal steps

  • With regard to all sexual offences where date rape drugs are used, the perpetrator can be sentenced in spite of the disturbed memory of the girls and women affected.
  • GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid) is broken down by the body within a few hours to below the detection limit. It is thus important for a possible report to the police to have blood and urine samples saved as soon as possible because the substances are detectable only for a few hours. This can be done by any GP but also in the outpatient departments of all hospitals and in institutes of forensic medicine. GHB is not detected during routine drug screening.
  • The victims should not be ashamed to go to the police. The mere sedation of another person is punishable, and subsequent crimes can be considered as more serious by court, precisely because the specific use of drugs.
  • If desired, the employees of rape crisis centres give advice and support the women and girls affected when they report the crime to the police and during the subsequent court proceedings.