Is the “rapist drug” poisoning the party world? Besançon, Tours, Paris, Grenoble, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Nancy… Testimonies of suspected GHB intoxication, mainly affecting women, are increasing in French cities. “I found myself drinking the glass that was intended for a friend at the bar,” says Julien, who answered our call for testimonials. “The effect was almost immediate, a few moments after drinking this glass, I have no memory”, explains the young man who was celebrating his 20th birthday that evening.
GHB is a powerful, painless psychotropic drug that causes vomiting, discomfort and loss of consciousness. Zoe, too, has no memory of her Halloween party in a Strasbourg nightclub. “I could not keep my eyes open, I ended up throwing up and going home along the walls, accompanied by friends”, testifies the young woman. The next morning, she still had “no” balance “and a severe migraine.”
Alert in student parties
On the legal side, the phenomenon remains complex and difficult to quantify because GHB disappears in the blood in 6 to 8 hours and between 8 to 12 hours in the urine. Mathilde had the bitter experience of it. “I was a victim of GHB at a student party. When I realized this, I went to the police station but they could not take my complaint because the drugs were no longer present in my body during the blood tests ”, she laments.
In Grenoble, the public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation at the end of October for alleged use of the “rapist’s drug” during student parties after a report from the management of Grenoble school management. In the Oise, the gendarmerie calls for vigilance revelers. “More and more people are being drugged without their knowledge”, indicate the gendarmes
on their Facebook page. “Remember: be vigilant in all circumstances and without moderation! “, They warn.
“Glass hoods” to deal with insecurity
“Today, I’m scared at the idea of going back to a nightclub, because even being sober I had problems,” says Clara, who has been drugged without her knowing twice. The young woman protests against the politicians and representatives of the authority who “manage to put the blame on the victims by saying that alcohol consumption is the problem”, like those held by the director of public security of Meurthe-et-Moselle. “Night clubs should take their responsibilities. But unfortunately I think that at the present time the only solution would be exclusively female boxes, ”she says. Upset and uplifted by the testimonies of women drugged at the GHB, feminist collectives launched Friday in Paris a movement of boycott of bars, clubs and other places of the night.
What solution to face this scourge which is increasingly plaguing the nightlife? Several student associations and institutions such as the Strasbourg Salamander will now distribute “condoms” or glass covers intended to prevent the intrusion of any substance in it. In addition, the Strasbourg nightclub seeks to train its staff “in the detection of questionable behavior at the counter and in the room”. Other proposal,
the Inter’Asso Avignon association invites bars and nightclubs to work together to set up prevention and surveillance operations to stem the phenomenon. In the United States, American students have launched a nail polish that detects drugs likely to be used by rapists, such as GHB, Rohypnol or Xanax. Other objects such as straws are still under study.
Fright in the rest of Europe
France is not an isolated case. In Belgium, reports of cases of GHB poisoning are also pouring in. The Instagram account @ Balance_ton_bar relays anonymous accounts of several participants and some participants in parties, victims of sexual violence after being drugged without their knowledge.
The initiative has been emulated in France since accounts dedicated to the cities of Lille, Paris, Grenoble, Nantes, Toulouse, Aix, Montpellier and Lyon have been launched. “It’s worrying to always have to be wary and have this fear of rape when you just want to spend a quiet evening with friends,” writes Chloe. “When can we live without fear of being assaulted?” She asks herself.
Among our British neighbors, concern grows beyond GHB after the resurgence of testimonies of students drugged without knowing it by injections using hypodermic needles. Since September, police say they have received 140 reports of incidents involving drugged drinks and 24 involving needles.
This wave of reports reopens the debate on the safety of women in the public space and comes after two cases that had caused a stir across the Channel. Last March, Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing manager, was attacked and then killed by a police officer as she walked home in the south of the capital.
Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old teacher, was killed on September 17 as she left her home to a bar a five-minute walk away.
The students and their male comrades are plotting a series of club and bar boycotts, refusing to go out on a predetermined night in each city to demand better protection. A petition has also been launched calling on the government to make it mandatory to thoroughly search customers at the entrance to nightclubs.