Pubdate: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 Source: Penticton Western (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Penticton Western Contact: http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310 MP PROPOSES PRIVATE BILL AGAINST DATE RAPE DRUGS A 10,000-name petition calling for tougher penalties for people using date-rape drugs has been tabled in Parliament by Conservative MP James Moore. "Ten thousand Canadians have spoken," said Moore, MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam. "I only wish the Liberal government was listening." On International Women's Day, Moore launched a university and college campus campaign to gain support for his plan to enact tougher laws against date-rape drugs. Moore met with students from the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University in Burnaby to Memorial University in St. John's and many in between. Student associations and Conservative campus clubs helped gather names. "In recent years date-rape drugs have become a real menace to women," Moore said. "The thugs and cowards who use these drugs to brutalize women need to be fought in our laws, and women need to know how to protect themselves from being victimized." Typically date-rape drugs are secretly slipped into drinks or food; once ingested they act rapidly, rendering the victim unconscious and unresponsive with little or no memory of what happens to them while the drug was active, he said. Traces of the drug can leave the body within 72 hours and often do not show up in routine toxicology screen or blood test. "The problem - my thesis - is that these are unique drugs and should not be subject to the same sanctions as self-imposed drugs," Moore said. "They are used as a precursor to other crimes: assaults, rapes, sexual assaults and kidnappings. They need much tougher penalties." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth