Brentwood 9/8/2011 1:38:44 AM
News / Health & Wellness

New Date Rape Drug Detector

Can a new Israeli invention help partygoers know when their drinks have been spiked?

Drugs and alcohol don’t mix, but it’s even worse when someone ingests drugs without their knowledge. It’s a real danger, particularly for college students and other young partygoers who may be tempted to let their guard down in new social situations. To help curb the problem of someone slipping drugs into another person’s drink, Israeli scientists have developed a device to detect when the date rape drug might have been put into your drink.

The new device, which looks like a regular stirrer or swizzle stick, can actually detect date rape drugs that might have been put into your drink. The new “smart” swizzle stick goes on sale this month and is capable of picking up on traces of GHB and ketamine, two of the most common date rape drugs, also known as club drugs.

The device will be both cheap and re-usable, making it cost effective and easily available to a wide range of potential users. While it’s potential impact is yet to be proven, experts think this could be a major development in sexual assault prevention – provided drinkers remember to put the same straw in every drink they have over the course of a night.

How Date Rape Drug Detection Works

How the device works is it samples a very small amount of the drink and mixes it with a testing solution, explains one of the device's creators. If a drug is present, the chemical reaction makes the solution cloudy or colored, depending on the drug. At that point, a red light comes on alerting the user that their drink has been spiked.

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