BPD Community Alert: The Boston Police Department would like to remind the public of the dangerousness of scentless, colorless, and tasteless drugs such as Rohypnol, also known as roofie, being placed in the drinks of unsuspecting victims. Other drugs commonly used in a similar fashion are GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) or Ketamine. These drugs and substances can cause disorientation, confusion, temporary paralysis, or unconsciousness, along with a host of other symptoms, leaving the potential victim vulnerable to the intentions of the suspect.
While the BPD encourages everyone to look out for each other when gathered in social settings by creating a ‘buddy system’ to prevent getting separated, there are steps you can take on your own to help ensure your personal safety:
Be sure that your drink is being served directly by the bartender or your server. Don’t allow people you don’t know or trust to order drinks and deliver them to you.
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Watch your drink at all times. Never leave your drink unattended.
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Take your drink with you to the restroom if need be.
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Keep your hand covered over your drink when you’re not looking at it. Many creative inventions exist that can help you cover your drink.
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Test your drink with test strips or nail polish that light up a certain color if they detect drugs.
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Get help immediately if you begin to feel dizzy, nauseated, light-headed, or strange in any way.
Please be aware of any uncharacteristic behavior from your acquaintances and be wary of strangers attempting to lure individuals away from their friends. Also, should you observe any individual who appears to be in distress, wandering alone late at night, or dressed unsuitably for the weather, be sure to contact the police immediately.
Maureen Dahill is the editor of Caught in Southie and a lifelong resident of South Boston sometimes mistaken for a yuppie. Co-host of Caught Up, storyteller, lover of red wine and binge watching TV series. Mrs. Peter G. Follow her @MaureenCaught.
Ohhhhh! Oh, my god! Those spiked drinks, including the “roofies”, which is the abbreviation for the most common of the date rape drugs that are put into drinks, are dangerous, and it is not unheard of for an unsuspecting victim to either wake up with no clothes on, or with different clothes on than the ones that she’d been wearing before, or for these victims to act in a weird fashion. The advice to keep one’s drinks with them at all times, even in the event that they go to the restroom(s) or whatever, is a piece of advice well taken. Getting into that kind of situation, in which one doesn’t know what happened, is extremely dangerous, and puts a victim into a dangerously vulnerable situation, in which s/he is likely to be taken advantage of, royal, and in a horrible way.
Sadly, the BPD have not been taking reports seriously, and/or can’t really do much to help or investigate after the fact. This has been going on for 2 years, and has become incredibly common. Very dangerous drugs like fentanyl have been detected in some spiking cases, that is, if an ER bothers to run a test. The police and really the city ad a whole, has no real plan or response to this criminal spree.
The only solution is to stay home/ throw house parties.