Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs • Hacker News Board

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#121

Post by Nursie » Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 1:01 AM UTC

sixothree wrote: post #47

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…

I've had it happen to me as well. I was very young at the time and only had two drinks the entire night. Luckily I was with safe friends, so it could have been worse. Shockingly once at a party I was offered to buy rohypnol. I was lurid. I certainly don't look like the type of person who would buy drugs, much less from a random stranger...

You know what, as someone interested in everything possible, I probably would have bought some, experimented on myself with it and then flushed anything left. I find the whole area absolutely fascinating.

That's not to say I expect everyone to be like me, but I guess it may go some way to explaining my attitude of "don't blame the drugs, blame the people". ANd now that I write that out I can see how much it looks like something the NRA might say.

It's a tricky area and no doubt.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#122

Post by Nursie » Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 1:03 AM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #66

Nursie wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, at the most that says we don't have good data, however according to wikipedia (and it does seem to be well referenced https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape_drug and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_rape#Drugs_used_in_sexual_... ) even studies that are designed to catch this stuff don't seem to get much over 1-2% for rohypnol where alcohol comes in closer to half of cases of suspected drug assisted assault.…

I'm kind of shocked at how bad that infographic on wikipedia is. I don't disagree on any particular point you've made.

Yeah that is pretty damn awful, if only due to heavy compression and artifacting. I've come to expect more from my free encyclopedia :)

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#123

Post by Nursie » Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 1:09 AM UTC

keevie wrote: post #94

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…

I can't edit my post it seems, but yes, I am most definitely being sarcastic here. I absolutely believe that it is wrong to rape someone, and that getting people drunk to get them to sleep with you is rape. In my experience, society does not think that, which is why we use phrases like "date rape," and talk about "date rape drugs" without ever mentioning alcohol.

On the internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

Or something. I'm glad you're not a terrible person.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#124

Post by hackinthebochs » Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 2:26 AM UTC

thwest wrote: post #115

hackinthebochs wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your answer implicitly casts the drunk person being acted upon, rather than an actor. I see this a lot and I have a feeling this stems from society's sexist views regarding sex that we've all internalized (men are always the actor, women passive). The point is assuming the drunk person (lets assume a women) is giving "enthusiastic consent", and thus is a "drunk actor" in this situation, why is responsibility invalida…

Someone capable of enthusiastic consent doesn't have their responsibility invalidated. Where did anyone say that? The important cases are where the consent is marginal -- either temporally separated from the act or given from a person who is borderline comatose. Assuming enthusiastic consent is just assuming away the problem. Do you acknowledge that there is a level of drunk where you can still sort of walk and talk…

>Assuming enthusiastic consent is just assuming away the problem.

I would agree that if one can "enthusiastically consent" then they are responsible for their actions. The problem is a lot of people would disagree with this, and the law seems murky on the subject. Also considering the fact that one could enthusiastically consent at the time but still be black-out drunk and thus have a different interpretation of how they ended up in bed with a guy.

If your concern is with people who are barely conscious, then we have no argument. However, I would say that the lines you draw in fact dodge the real question here. No one can reasonably consider a half-conscious person to offer consent. The question is really about people who are visibly drunk, not almost comatose, and actually give consent (enthusiastic or not). This is where the dangerous grey area lies. Many people claim that such a person cannot legally consent, whether enthusiastic or not. That is the real question here. I would like such a person's take on the difference between liability from driving and liability for a regrettable lay.

Re: Straws And Cups That Detect Date Rape Drugs

#125

Post by codebeaker » Tue, Jul 30, 2013, 6:41 AM UTC

I happen to know (no time to look up the patent number now, sorry) that this is covered by a US, and EU patent. A friend of mine lost more than €30,000 to being sued by a firm that already holds the rights to this.

I hope he figures it out before they start trolling him. My friend's “invention” also covered a product on beer-mats and serviettes that would change colour under the same circumstances, unfortunately the patent he was facing down was so broadly written that it covered basically anything that could be used to detect daterape drugs in a drink by indicating it somehow.

Surely the patent could have been battled, but he wasn't in the financial position to do so.