Anne Fawcett's April 25 column "Rape Drugs Deserve Stigma of Illegality" is the latest example of the manipulative anti-drug propaganda running rampant across America. While discussing GHB and GHB analogues in her article, Fawcett needs to realize that there is an even more pervasive "date-rape drug" in common use throughout America and the rest of the world: alcohol.
A reasonable person will admit that alcohol has accounted for many more sexual assaults than every other designer "date-rape drug" combined. Fawcett talks about a 4-liter bottle of GHB facilitating 800 sexual assaults. But this is a gross exaggeration because the likelihood such an amount of the drug will be used for purely mischievous purposes is ludicrous. A 24-pack of Bud Light can facilitate five sexual assaults. Add up all of the 24-packs out there and you've got an epidemic.
To be fair, I must give Fawcett some credit for acknowledging that "some people buy (GHB and GHB analogues) for their own consumption," even though this acknowledgement is a complete understatement. The truth is that - like alcohol - most people buy such drugs for their own consumption, and - also like alcohol - only the deviant minority uses them for harmful purposes.
So, considering that alcohol is much more available and at least as dangerous to women as any of these chemicals suggests that the only solution is to ban it. I mean, if you propose banning these drugs for their potential harm to the female community, surely you have to outlaw the biggest "date-rape drug" of them all, don't you?
Ben Ablin
Freshman
