‘Date Rape’ Sedative Is Banned Feds Say Powerful Pill Often Used In Sexual Assaults

The government banned the importation of the sedative Rohypnol Tuesday, saying the “date-rape” pill is a growing threat to teenagers and young adults and has no legitimate therapeutic use.

The pills are manufactured overseas and used legally in about 60 nations for insomnia. Until Tuesday, travelers to the United States could bring a three-month supply for personal use.

But Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin said the Customs Service now will seize any amount of the drug, also known as “roofies,” that is brought into the country by travelers, in commercial shipments or by mail.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is taking steps to reclassify it as a Schedule 1 drug with no accepted medical use in the United States. As such, it will be grouped with heroin, methaqualone and LSD.

Rohypnol, a sedative 10 times more potent than valium, often has been associated with date rape, the Treasury said, citing numerous news reports about women claiming to have been assaulted after their drinks had been spiked. The drug creates a drunk, then sleepy feeling that peaks after two hours and lasts about eight.

Rubin told reporters the drug, manufactured abroad by Swiss-based Hoffman-LaRoche, has been gaining popularity among the young in the South and Southwest, particularly Florida and Texas.

A recently completed DEA study found that 101,000 tablets were declared and brought into the country at the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, during a three-week period in July 1995.

There also have been reports that drug traffickers are smuggling the drug into the United States from Colombia and Mexico.

Customs Commissioner George Weise said smugglers would be subject to prosecution. If the pills are declared at border crossings, they will be confiscated but charges probably would not be filed.

The drug usually comes in white, 2-milligram tablets in bubble-packs similar to those used to package cold pills. It sells for $3 to $5 a pill.

The Food and Drug Administration has said Rohypnol has no legitimate therapeutic need in the United States that is not already met by legal and approved drugs.