Drug rape – after a woman’s drink – or a man’s drink – has been spiked – has the human rights defence organisation the Council of Europe demanding that its member governments give the crime their full attention. Former president of the Council’s Committee for gender equality Romania’s Minodora Cliveti contributed to the report adopted by the parliamentary assembly.

She told EuroNews that in her country, for example: “If you make it impossible for another person to control their actions, with the intention of committing rape… These are considered aggravating circumstances. This report proposes that the member countries do something like this in their legislation.”

The governments are being urged to inform the public of the dangers, provide medical and psychological care for victims and standardise police procedures. Michael Hancock adds that the manufacturers of the abusive substances must get involved. He said: “What we need is the drug companies themselves — the pharmaceutical industry – to act with responsibility. They know what these drugs are being mis-used for. They need to put an ingredient in the drug which is unique to these drugs, which can be traceable over a much longer period of time.”

Without a victim’s knowledge, date rape drugs are slipped into drinks, but they have a limited duration of traceability. Experts use the term “drug-facilitated sexual assault” for what can follow – including gang rape. The Council is pushing for sweeping awareness efforts and revisions of criminal legislation. In Britain, the Roofie Foundation says it is the country’s only specialised agency dealing with drug rape.

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