What you should know about date rape drugs 25 December 2017 By Zawn Villines,  Reviewed by Alan Carter, PharmD

Any drug that alters a person\’s consciousness in a way that makes self-defense or sound decision-making difficult can be a date rape drug.

Most estimates suggest that at least 25 percent or 1 in 4 of American women have been sexually assaulted or raped. Someone the victim knows, sometimes with the assistance of a date rape drug, commits most rapes.

Knowing the most common date rape drugs, their side effects, and the signs of a perpetrator planning to use one can prevent victimization.

Fast facts on date rape drugs:

• Many people worry about a perpetrator adding a date rape drug to an alcoholic drink.
• The primary sign of being drugged is a sudden, unexplained change in consciousness.
• A person who thinks they may have been drugged should seek safety first and foremost.

Types and their side effects

Alcohol and benzodiazepines are commonly used date rape drugs, as they may cause physical weakness and loss of consciousness.

Date rape drugs make a sexual assault, including rape easier in one or more ways, such as:

• making a victim more compliant and less able to say no
• weakening a victim so they are unable to resist or fight back
• making a victim fully or partially unconscious
• weakening a victim\’s inhibitions, so they consent to sexual activity they may otherwise decline

Any drug that changes a potential victim\’s state of mind, including some prescription drugs, street drugs such as heroin, and popular drugs such as marijuana, can be a date rape drug.

The most common date rape drugs are:

• Alcohol
• Benzodiazepines
• Ketamine
• GHB
• Other date rape drugs

Any drug that changes a victim\’s consciousness can be used to facilitate date rape.

In some cases, the victim might even ingest the drug willingly. A person who uses heroin, for example, may be so intoxicated that they do not realize a perpetrator is attempting to rape them. People who use drugs should, therefore, avoid taking them around certain acquaintances or in settings that might facilitate date rape.

1. Types
2. Signs and symptoms
3. What to do
4. Protecting yourself
5. Takeaway

For complete article https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320409.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly

What gives police the right to legalise cannabis on the sly?

PC Plod, on coming across someone in a spaced-out state who is giving off the unmistakeable aroma of ‘weed’, is now expected to step aside and continue on his way as though nothing is awry.

The absurd diktat was partly driven by the desire of senior police officers to reduce the use of stop and search, which is particularly resented by some in the black community. The latest figures show that black people are eight times more likely to be stopped than their white equivalents.

It may surprise some that, according to the same figures, black people are less likely to have drugs on them than white suspects. So maybe they are being unfairly targeted by overzealous police.

Duty: At least five forces in England have announced without apparent shame that they will turn a blind eye to cannabis if it is for personal consumption. Police in Avon and Somerset, Durham, Derbyshire, Dorset and Surrey are taking this lenient approach, and we can be certain others are doing so less publicly.

Meanwhile, some forces are being almost equally indulgent towards growers of cannabis. Small-scale producers routinely escape prosecution in Durham. Devon and Cornwall Police uncovered 194 cannabis farms in four years but only brought charges against 79 people. The rest were cautioned or given warnings.

All this is thoroughly bad. The police have a duty to uphold the law. If they visibly fail to do so, they are actually encouraging people to break it in the knowledge that even if they are caught they will very likely be let off.

It’s not just true of drugs, of course. By disclosing that they no longer have the time to investigate ‘low-level’ crimes such as burglary, the police are effectively giving thieves a green light. Steal a smartphone by all means, but better not take the Mercedes this time.

And so inveterate consumers of cannabis, and those who grow and supply the stuff on a modest scale, know they are safe even though the maximum sentence for possession is supposedly five years in prison, and a stiff 15 years for selling the stuff. In some countries such as Holland, and American states such as Colorado, they are at least honest enough to have had a public debate before – misguidedly, in my view – decriminalising cannabis. In Britain we are legitimising it on the sly while going through the charade of pretending it remains against the law.

Read more: You wonder why kids dont care if they get caught using?

National Adolescent Drug Trends in 2017: Findings Released

Marijuana Use Edges Upward ANN ARBOR–Marijuana use among adolescents edged upward in 2017, the first significant increase in seven years. Overall, past-year use of marijuana significantly increased by 1.3% to 24% in 2017 for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders combined. Specifically, in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades the respective increases were 0.8% (to 10.1%), 1.6% (to 25.5%) and 1.5% (to 37.1%). The increase is statistically significant when all three grades are combined. “This increase has been expected by many” said Richard Miech, the Principal Investigator of the study. “Historically marijuana use has gone up as adolescents see less risk of harm in using it. We’ve found that the risk adolescents see in marijuana use has been steadily going down for years to the point that it is now at the lowest level we’ve seen in four decades.”

Press Release

Key Findings On Adolescent Drug Use 2016

INCB Alerts

• Alert on Convention Implementation (December 2017)
• Alert on Control of Narcotic Drugs (December 2017)
• Alert on Control of Psychotropic Substances (December 2017)
• Alert on Control of Precursor Chemicals (December 2017)

WASHINGTON STATE TEENS MURDER OVER MARIJUANA

For more ParentsAgainstPot

STEVE BIRR

The rapid influx of synthetic opioids into Florida is sparking an emergency warning from federal agents who say the deadly substances are seeping into cocaine supplies.

Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Miami said Friday cocaine cut with fentanyl is becoming a widespread problem throughout the state, particularly in South Florida. State drug labs are finding both fentanyl, a synthetic opioid roughly 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, and carfentanil, a fentanyl analog roughly 10,000 times more powerful than morphine used largely as an elephant tranquilizer, reports the Sun Sentinel.

More than 180 samples of cocaine from 21 Florida counties analyzed by forensic scientists in the past two years have tested positive for potent opioids. Miami-Dade by far had the most contaminated cocaine supply, with 69 samples testing positive for opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil.

Cocaine-related deaths have doubled since 2012 in Florida and claimed more lives in 2016 than any other drug. Roughly 36 people died each month in Miami-Dade county from cocaine related issues in 2016.

For more http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/16/fentanyl-laced-cocaine-is-overtaking-miami/