The Florida-based Drink Safe Technologies has been very successful with the sales of new products that could facilitate greater protection against date rape drugs. The Drink Safe Coaster and Test Strip have sold 50 million copies since their release in March.
The coasters and testing strips, which are supposed to change color when they come in contact with ketamine and GHB, so-called “date rape drugs,” are being sold and handed out at convenience stores and colleges across the country.
The 40-cent paper coasters and test strips are not currently available on the University of Wisconsin campus, but some students wish they were.
“Living in the dorm, I watch a lot of freshman girls go to frat parties where there have been incidents of people tampering with their drinks … and I’ve known people myself who’ve been drugged and had potential sexual assault problems, so something that could help girls defend themselves would definitely be very valuable,” said UW sophomore Kathleen Cooney.
Elizabeth Staudt, UW student and publicity coordinator at the Campus Women’s Center, said ordering these coasters and other testing products would be an option if there is sufficient interest on campus.
“Although the coaster couldn’t really replace being cautious, anything that gives women more control (over “date rape drugs”), would definitely be something that we would be interested in getting more information on,” Staudt said.
Others are more skeptical of the utility of the coasters in a campus environment.
Scott Spear, director of clinical services at University Health System at UW-Madison seriously questioned the quality of the testing methods that the coasters utilize.
“I’d be very concerned about the quality control on these tests,” Spear said. “When we test something, we send our materials to a lab … Things like heat, moisture, and other environmental conditions can affect the quality of testing. In the presence of alcohol and an uncontrolled environment, these tests could be very inaccurate.”
The manufacturers claim that the coasters and test strips will react with ketamine and GHB within one minute, but in tests at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, the coasters failed to react clearly to colored drinks and didn’t always react clearly within one minute. Some of the tests took several hours to develop.
The chemistry behind the coasters is pending patent, so Drink Safe Technologies is not releasing any information.
Another problem some have with the testers is that the coasters only react to two of the 36 “date rape drugs.” Because of this huge margin, there is concern that these new technologies will create a false sense of security. Meghan Benson, a UW student and member of Sex Out Loud, fears that the coasters could cause students to be less careful in otherwise dangerous situations.
“It’s good because [the coasters] make people more aware of the problem [of sexual assault], but these don’t seem to be a method that would be truly effective to prevent it,” Benson said. “I think it would be just as effective to have coasters printed with important phone numbers and warnings about date rape, and I would still recommend just watching your drink and not putting it down.”
Spear advocates a similar caution to students on behalf of UHS.
“We suggest to students that they keep their drink in hand,” he said. “Responsible use and not overuse of alcohol is the way to prevent date rape. Many times on this campus, the ‘date rape drug’ is the alcohol itself.”
