ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606250034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
An illegal sedative nicknamed the ``date rape'' drug should be put in the same category as heroin, cocaine and LSD in the next three months, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Thursday.
The agency recommended that Rohypnol, connected to more than 2,400 criminal investigations nationwide, be declared a Schedule 1 drug, DEA spokesman Jim McGivney said.
The Health and Human Services Department will study the medical effects of the drug, and within the next few months could reclassify it.
``We have seen an increase in abuse potential and actual abuse,'' McGivney said. ``Even if you don't discuss the sexual allegations, the drug can be very problematic.''
Rohypnol, which has been banned in the United States since March, is legal in 64 countries for use before surgery and to treat insomnia. The drug, first marketed as a sleeping pill in 1975, is 10 times more powerful than Valium.
Declaring it a Schedule 1 drug would provide a minimum 10-year prison term for simple smuggling offenses and allow prosecutors to seek the same sentences that apply to sales and possession of heroin and cocaine.
The criteria for a Schedule 1 drug include potential for abuse, ease with which a person can become addicted, actual abuse, and whether the drug is accepted for a legitimate medical use, McGivney said.
Now, the sedative is classified a Schedule 4 drug, along with Valium. Prosecuting people for possessing or smuggling Rohypnol is nearly impossible, because a person would have to carry more than four pounds of pills to be penalized, McGivney said.
The drug - a small, white tablet known as ``roofie'' that has no taste or odor when dissolved in a drink - is sold illegally for $1 to $5 per pill.
In ``roofie rape,'' victims who are slipped the drug become dizzy and disoriented and have trouble moving their arms and legs. They finally pass out and have little or no memory of what happens next.
Officials from Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., whose parent company manufactures and markets Rohypnol, said Thursday they were ``absolutely appalled'' by the use of the sedative in sexual attacks.
``We are strongly in favor of very strict penalties for any person who traffics, misuses and abuses Rohypnol,'' Vice President Carolyn Glynn said. However, ``We do not think rescheduling is an appropriate action.''
The Nutley, N.J.-based company, a U.S. affiliate of Roche Holding Ltd. of Basel, Switzerland, announced last week that to help prevent abuse it is converting to a smaller-dose pill that will not dissolve as easily.
Until March, people were allowed to bring a three-month ``personal use'' supply of Rohypnol into the United States. After increasing reports of rape associated with it, the DEA, Customs Service and Food and Drug Administration banned the drug.
The DEA documented more than 2,400 federal, state and local criminal investigations involving Rohypnol between 1993 and March 1996, McGivney said.
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