Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 1999
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Author: Linda Doherty

PUSH TO TIGHTEN REINS ON ROHYPNOL

Beer would turn green and other alcoholic drinks blue when spiked with the
drug Rohypnol, under a State Government push to put a dye in the sedative to
prevent "date rape". The Government will urge all health ministers to adopt
a national approach on Rohypnol and is considering reclassifying the drug in
NSW.

NSW Health Department figures show Rohypnol is involved in almost half of
the State's prescription forgeries.

The MP for Miranda, Mr Barry Collier, said several sexual assaults in NSW
had been linked to the misuse of Rohypnol, where pills were dropped into the
drinks of unsuspecting victims.

Canadian authorities had added a colouring agent to Rohypnol to identify the
presence of the tasteless, colourless and odourless drug, he said.

A spokesman for the Federal Minister for Health, Dr Wooldridge, said any
plan for a Rohypnol-colouring agent would need Federal Health Department
approval.

The NSW Health Minister, Mr Knowles, is considering Mr Collier's call for
Rohypnol to be reclassified on the NSW Poisons' List to require upgraded
storage measures, weekly sales reports and a register kept by wholesalers,
manufacturers and pharmacists.

NSW Attorney-General's Department figures show 17 people were convicted in
NSW between 1990 and 1998 for administering a stupefying drug like Rohypnol
with the intention of committing a crime.

Rohypnol, 10 times stronger than Valium, has been linked to more than 20
Melbourne sexual assaults this year. The chief executive of the Alcohol and
Other Drugs Council, Mr David Crosbie, said the use of Rohypnol to drug
people in bars was not a widespread problem.

He said prescriptions were more commonly forged by heroin addicts desperate
for Rohypnol to "take the edge" off withdrawal. Thirty per cent of NSW's
heroin overdose deaths were attributed to benzodiazepines, such as Rohypnol,
taken in combination with heroin.

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