Women drinkers in Plymouth warned of date rape danger

BOOZE is the most common date-rape ‘drug’ in the South West, claim police.

The stark warning comes at the launch of National Rape Awareness Week and aims to highlight the potential dangers of excessive alcohol to young women, particularly during the party season around Christmas.

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary are using the awareness week to promote a “safe drinking message” to the city’s young women who put themselves at risk of becoming victims while drunk.

Assistant Chief Constable Debbie Simpson said: “This isn’t just a festive message – however in the run up to Christmas a lot more alcohol tends to be consumed.

“We would like to ask young women to take note of the following tips if they are partying this Christmas: remember alcohol is the most common date rape drug; don’t drink so much that you are unable to say ‘no’; stay away from situations which make you feel uncomfortable; always pre-book a taxi through a licensed mini-cab office.

The force hope to remind young women of the acquaintance rape campaign message that was launched this summer: ‘Rapists are not always strangers’.

The key fact of the summer campaign was that in 80 percent of reported rapes, the victim had already met their attacker.

ACC Debbie Simpson said: “At least six out of ten rapes happen in a house or flat. It is more likely that a rapist is someone that the victim may have met and gone home with on a drunken night out rather than a stranger in a dark alleyway.”

Mike Scott-Ham, a toxicology expert with the Forensic Science Service, said drink spiking was extremely rare. He said: “Over the past 10 years, we have analysed thousands of samples of blood and urine from alleged ‘date-rape’ victims and have only come across one which contained Rohypnol and only two samples with GHB from instances of genuine ‘spiking’, despite use of ‘Rohypnol’ being detectable in urine samples taken three or four days after ingestion.

“The true reality of the problem is alcohol. Alcohol is the number one ‘date rape’ drug and I fully support the national rape awareness campaign in highlighting this fact.”

WARNING: content suitable for adults only. Devon and Cornwall police have released a rape awareness campaign video which will be shown in cinemas across the West Country.

Drink rape danger for young women.