The combination of sexual assault and the use of drugs has long been a problem. The use of the new so-called "date rape drug," however, presents a new legal issue. The victim does not remember what has happened to her. If the victim does not remember the crime being committed, how do you prosecute an alleged prosecutor? (www.earthops.com).
It is difficult to build a case against someone when you cannot question the victim about what happened during the rape. Depending on the location in which the woman awakens, she might not even know that she has been raped, and as a consequence she may not seek help. Valuable time may have been lost and little or no evidence will be available to substantiate an event that already cannot be remembered by the victim. (www.earthops.com).
Because of the loss of memory, and depending on the victim's response to the possibility that she may have been raped, a jury will be unlikely to criminally convict and alleged rapist. Semen is harder to collect when force is not used, there is a time limit within which traces of the drug leave the urine, and the victim cannot testify on her own behalf. All of these factors are creating a nightmare for persecutors. The bottom line: a rapist will be able to get away with the crime because the prosecutes will not have sufficient evidence to prove that the rape took place. (www.earthops.com).
The issue is important because if you cannot prosecute a person for rape, then violence against women will increase, and society will not have a way to prevent it.
The "date rape" drug is the common name for Rohypnol, generically called flunitrazepam. Rohypnol is manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche and prescribed as a sleeping pill in countries outside of the United States. It is used as a short-term treatment for insomnia, as a sedative hypnotic and a pre-anesthetic. It has physiological effects similar to Valium, but is approximately ten times more potent.