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Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

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Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#21

Post by king_jester »

keevie wrote: post #9
Nursie wrote: post #3

1. Awesome invention, straws that detect adulterants and change colour 2. Obviously people do get drugged occasionally, the inventor seems to have had it happen to him 3. Unfortunately there seems to be no real evidence that GHB or ketamine are often used in sexual assaults, and even Rohypnol which has the worst reputation has not often been detected. A straw that could detect a drink that's stronger than you think i…

None of these "date rape drugs" even come close to comparing to alcohol. It's the original and most effective date rape drug, and no one even really objects to people using it for that purpose. Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./ Once you start using scary drugs that no one has ever heard of, then wow, that's something we can condemn. Especially since no one we know would ever do…

> Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./

Uh what? Getting someone drunk so you can impair their ability to consent or so you can overpower them is most certainly wrong.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#22

Post by Nursie »

keevie wrote: post #9
Nursie wrote: post #3

1. Awesome invention, straws that detect adulterants and change colour 2. Obviously people do get drugged occasionally, the inventor seems to have had it happen to him 3. Unfortunately there seems to be no real evidence that GHB or ketamine are often used in sexual assaults, and even Rohypnol which has the worst reputation has not often been detected. A straw that could detect a drink that's stronger than you think i…

None of these "date rape drugs" even come close to comparing to alcohol. It's the original and most effective date rape drug, and no one even really objects to people using it for that purpose. Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./ Once you start using scary drugs that no one has ever heard of, then wow, that's something we can condemn. Especially since no one we know would ever do…

>> Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./

It is, sorry.

There's nothing wrong with two people having a few drinks and going to bed together. But it's at the very least creepy to plan to knock someone's inhibitions down that way, or to take advantage of them.

>> It's the original and most effective date rape drug, and no one even really objects to people using it for that purpose.

You've now gone beyond creepy.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#23

Post by rsofaer »

keevie wrote: post #9
Nursie wrote: post #3

1. Awesome invention, straws that detect adulterants and change colour 2. Obviously people do get drugged occasionally, the inventor seems to have had it happen to him 3. Unfortunately there seems to be no real evidence that GHB or ketamine are often used in sexual assaults, and even Rohypnol which has the worst reputation has not often been detected. A straw that could detect a drink that's stronger than you think i…

None of these "date rape drugs" even come close to comparing to alcohol. It's the original and most effective date rape drug, and no one even really objects to people using it for that purpose. Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./ Once you start using scary drugs that no one has ever heard of, then wow, that's something we can condemn. Especially since no one we know would ever do…

You are very wrong that no one objects to people using alcohol as a date rape drug, and I don't hesitate to condemn anyone who pressures someone else into drinking in order to control them.

Another reason the attitude you display here is alarming is that it may be difficult to tell the difference between a drunk person and a drugged person. It's not like the victim falls unconscious and the attacker carries them away. Someone who has been slipped GHB might be perceived by the people around them as having gotten drunk deliberately, for example.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#24

Post by kevingadd »

Nursie wrote: post #16
justinsteele wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding #3, what data are you going off to say that Rohypnol has not been detected, and that drugging overall is uncommon? I have experienced it twice in the past 18 months through friends whom I have drank with many times, and had a very obvious reaction to one drink which often had been bought for them or left on a table/bar at some point that evening. Unless someone poured them a drink comprised of 6+ shots wort…

>> Regarding #3, what data are you going off to say that Rohypnol has not been detected, and that drugging overall is uncommon? Wikipedia has links to a couple of studies. It says Rohypnol was detected in less than 1% of cases of sexual assault where drugging was suspected. I obviously have no idea what you and your friends have seen or been through or what they may have been spiked with. I'm just saying that wheneve…

The OP itself describes how the numbers are going to be heavily skewed because of how the drugs get metabolized and how often people don't report...

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#25

Post by asdasf »

justinsteele wrote: post #11
Nursie wrote: post #3

1. Awesome invention, straws that detect adulterants and change colour 2. Obviously people do get drugged occasionally, the inventor seems to have had it happen to him 3. Unfortunately there seems to be no real evidence that GHB or ketamine are often used in sexual assaults, and even Rohypnol which has the worst reputation has not often been detected. A straw that could detect a drink that's stronger than you think i…

Regarding #3, what data are you going off to say that Rohypnol has not been detected, and that drugging overall is uncommon? I have experienced it twice in the past 18 months through friends whom I have drank with many times, and had a very obvious reaction to one drink which often had been bought for them or left on a table/bar at some point that evening. Unless someone poured them a drink comprised of 6+ shots wort…

That's exactly it though, lots of people "experience" being roofied, and then are tested and it turns out they were not. Our "common sense" judgments on situations like this are actually incredibly unreliable.

>Uncommon is pretty broad, if something as severe as being drugged happens to one person out of every 200 each night, it is "common" in my mind.

But evidence suggests it is no where even close to that common. Alcohol on the other hand might very well be used more often than 1 in 200.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#26

Post by eggbrain »

This is a great invention that can help prevent abuse, but I'm worried bars won't buy in for a few reasons:

1) I assume the cups have to be disposable, as the strips probably don't work multiple times. Most bars I've been to don't use disposable cups.

2) Even if they did, it has to be cost effective for the bar to consider using them. If 1000 cups is $250 (0.25/cup) and you can get 10,000 normal cups for that price, that's going to probably factor into their decision.

3) The bar might be worried that having these cups might reflect poorly on their reputation. I can imagine people saying to themselves "Why is the bar using special glasses that detect date rape? Is date rape a problem at this bar?" When you introduce an item like this it might lead to speculation that there is a problem when really you're trying to be safe. It's like if you installed a metal detector at a club and put bars on the windows -- you might be doing it just to be safe, but your patrons might think "do things happen here that warrant security precautions like this"?

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#27

Post by andrewhillman »

These drugs are without consistent ingredients and are always changing. He will need to stay ontop of drug trends and the constant iteration will side track the project. His biggest challenge will be scoring the actual drug to test the sensors... The chances that he will be able to produce these cups for an amount equal to the current cost of a regular plastic cup is doubtful. Etch-it cups can't even come close to the price of a regular plastic cup so how can these sensor cups be priced to attract bulk orders from bars and clubs?

My guess is that he is banking that the patent has value to cup manufacturers but the cup manufacturers probably don't want to hire a slew of scientist for R&D. They just want to make and sell cups.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#28

Post by ryusage »

justinsteele wrote: post #13
keevie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of these "date rape drugs" even come close to comparing to alcohol. It's the original and most effective date rape drug, and no one even really objects to people using it for that purpose. Getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you isn't really /wrong./ Once you start using scary drugs that no one has ever heard of, then wow, that's something we can condemn. Especially since no one we know would ever do…

That's arguable. I think the line between "these friends know each other and have been flirtatious in the past, it's okay that they got drunk one night and hooked up" and "this random person put a date rape drug in that other person's drink so they could take advantage of their state" is extremely large.

I think keevie's comment was referring more to a situation in which two strangers meet, one buys many drinks for the other, and then, once very drunk, gets them into bed. If you ask 100 people if that's wrong to do, I'm pretty confident that you're going to get much more conflicting answers than if you ask them about either of your two examples.

On the one hand, it's basically what a lot of people just take as the norm. They think that's what you're supposed to do at bars. On the other, it also just happens to be a way to make someone much less resistant to doing things they would never do otherwise.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#30

Post by justin66 »

justinsteele wrote: post #11
Nursie wrote: post #3

1. Awesome invention, straws that detect adulterants and change colour 2. Obviously people do get drugged occasionally, the inventor seems to have had it happen to him 3. Unfortunately there seems to be no real evidence that GHB or ketamine are often used in sexual assaults, and even Rohypnol which has the worst reputation has not often been detected. A straw that could detect a drink that's stronger than you think i…

Regarding #3, what data are you going off to say that Rohypnol has not been detected, and that drugging overall is uncommon? I have experienced it twice in the past 18 months through friends whom I have drank with many times, and had a very obvious reaction to one drink which often had been bought for them or left on a table/bar at some point that evening. Unless someone poured them a drink comprised of 6+ shots wort…

> I have experienced it twice in the past 18 months through friends whom I have drank with many times, and had a very obvious reaction to one drink which often had been bought for them or left on a table/bar at some point that evening. Unless someone poured them a drink comprised of 6+ shots worth of liquor, there is no way they would have gone through the change they went through in that one drink.

Can you elaborate at all? I'm curious because, as disgusting as it is, I can sort of understand the motivation of the standard date rape scenario with Rohypnol. What you're describing sounds more like the equivalent of someone spiking the punch... with Rohypnol? To what end?

Horrifying.

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