Date-rape drugs are real. They're not just some statistic on a page or something you hear about from a documentary. They can be slipped to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Date rape and the use of alcohol or drugs in sexual coercion is something everyone talks about during freshman orientation, it's grazed over on teen shows, and mentioned as a statistic in our textbooks. A lot of people shove it into the back of their minds because it really doesn't apply to them. We have an, "it won't happen to me," attitude. Well it happped to this sorority woman, and she has a story to share that will show you what it's really like to wake up after being slipped date-rape drugs. Below, is her first-person account.
All I really remember was waking up. I felt this really weird sensation in my arm and looked up to
see a doctor hovering over me, pulling out my IV and checking to make sure
everything was where it was supposed to be. Was this some sort of sick joke?
Where the hell was I?
I looked down and
noticed that I was clad in a paper hospital diaper dress and my stomach
immediately dropped to the floor -- I was just at my friend’s house five seconds
ago. We were talking about his sister and laughing about some stupid joke. Did
I pass out? What’s going on?
“Ah, you’re up,” the
doctor said. “Could you tell me what you drank last night?”
“A little bit of vodka.”
I had barely had anything to drink. I couldn’t have possibly gotten so drunk
that I ended up in the hospital. I was then bombarded with a barrage of
questions about the events of the night before, but I couldn’t remember what
had happened. All I was able to recall was hanging out with all of my best guy
friends and then opening my eyes.
"Well, your alcohol level
was .295, but on the bright side you tested positive for date rape drugs.”
Was
this some sort of sick joke? Where are the hidden cameras and Ashton jumping
out saying, “You’ve been punked!”
The rest of the night
buzzed by in a blur as my friends and boyfriend picked me up and brought me
home. I cried the whole way and didn’t say a thing to my friends about the
drugs because I figured that they already knew. I trudged into the bathroom and
gingerly washed all of the twigs out of my hair from the night before and
scrubbed all of the dirt off of myself. I looked like I had been hit by a car
and rolled around in a mud pit, and I felt like it, too. My whole body was so
sore and I was exhausted, so I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.
When I woke up, I knew
the first thing I had to do was call my mom. I remembered texting her the night
before -- perfectly fine and sober -- about something mundane before my whole
night disappeared into a blackout. She picked up the phone, crying
hysterically, worried for me because my boyfriend had called her and told her
what had happened, and that I was in the hospital. I tried to ease her nerves
before telling her about the drugs, and when I told her what had caused the
events of last night she was relieved because she told me that she never
thought that I would ever drink that much. Apparently the EMTs, as they loaded
me onto a stretcher, had said, “if your daughter drank as much as it looks like
she did, she would be dead.”
Next, I knew I had to
call my dad. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. He picked
up the phone and I hesitantly told him all that happened last night. At first
he started yelling, “damnit, f***ing damnit!” and then he burst into tears.
Hearing my dad cry was one of the worst experiences I’ll ever have. All I
wanted to do was reach through the phone and comfort him. When I finished the
phone call, a bunch of my Greek sisters came into the room and tried to console
me. My little couldn’t even look at me without crying. I felt sick.
Later that day, when I
was able to walk around without my muscles screaming in pain, I went downstairs,
logged onto Facebook, and found a bunch of messages from my sisters asking me
how I was and if I needed anything. Supposedly, they were the ones who found
me. I asked them where they had finally picked me up and they said, “Ash Street,
don’t you remember seeing us?”
Apparently, I had been wandering around by myself
down a random street on campus, puking up blood, covered in dirt and twigs. I
don’t even know where Ash Street is. I had gotten so sick from walking, that I
passed out in someone’s yard. Thankfully, they knew what house I belonged
in and they called my sisters. I told the girls how my night had ended and they
went into shock. They couldn’t believe that I was in so much danger when they
found me. They thought I was just puking from drinking too much and had
wandered too far.
I still feel sick to my
stomach when I think of the events of that night. If that random person hadn’t
called my friends, would I even be alive? Would I have puked up so much blood
that I wouldn’t have made it to the hospital in time when someone did find me? My
friends and boyfriend are still shocked and horrified at what happened. I don’t
even understand it myself. I never drink too much, I’m always the girl who’s
smart when it comes to parties, and you’ll never see me making a fool of
myself. How could this have happened to me?
Date
rape drugs are real, and they’re scary. They’re not just some statistic on a
page in your textbook, they’re not just something you see in a movie or a
documentary, they’re what causes one of your friends to puke up blood and end
up in the hospital. Whether you’re male or female, it doesn’t matter. Anyone
could be the victim of a date rape drug, and it’s serious business. Here are
some tips to keep yourself safe at college parties and avoid becoming a victim:
1. Don’t take an open beverage from anyone, male or
female. By open beverage, I’m referring to those red Solo cups filled with
beer, wine, or hard alcohol, handed to you by a random partygoer or
someone you don’t know that well. It’s easy to slip drugs into a drink and, often, they’re undetectable.
2. Avoid alcohol tubs or random punch bowls. You
never know if some random mixed drugs were put in beforehand.
3. Only take alcohol, whether it's beer, wine, or hard-a, from people you know or buy it yourself. Trust your source.
4. Never, ever, under any circumstances leave your
drink unattended.
If you or any of your
friends are given a date rape drug (Rohypnol, Ketamine, or Gamma Hydroxybutyrat)
it is important to take immediate steps to insure personal safety. Here are
some tips in case you or someone you know is a suspected victim of a date rape
drug:
1. Immediately call 911.
2. Describe all symptoms, no matter how minor you
think they are.
3. Get yourself or the friend to a safe environment
and wait for an ambulance or take them to a hospital immediately.
4. Date rape drugs, according to University
Services at UC Berkeley, can be detected in the blood or urine anywhere from four to 12 hours after, depending on the drug, so it’s important to get the victim into the
care of a doctor when you suspect something is wrong.