Originally aired October 12, 2001

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: • Project GHB http://www.projectGHB.org • GHB Fact Sheet http://www.health.org/nongovpubs/ ghbqa/index.htm • Substance Related Sexual Assault http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ ghb/ghb_info3.shtml It leaves rape victims helpless and it's already here in nebraska. It's called GHB, gamma hydroxy buturate - or as it's known on the streets…"Liquid G", "Georgia Home Boy" and "Cherry Meth." When it's slipped into a drink, it leaves the victim helpless - sometimes even comatose. Often times the victim doesn't even remember the rapist - or even being raped. One rape victim tells her story to Statewide.

TRANSCRIPT - GHB

Reported by Statewide correspondent, Andrea Gallagher

Parties and bars are about as common to college students as text books and exams…..it's a time when young people are becoming adults and exploring their sexuality.
Many female students know what to watch out for to combat acquaintance rape….they've been warned by parents, educators and even friends…..know the people you're with, be aware of your surroundings and don't go home with somebody you don't know. Creighton University student, Jeannie Restituto, knew all about these warnings.
[Jeannie Restituto/Rape Victim] "I was cautious when I would go to a party with lots and lots of people I didn't know."
Jeannie also knew when she was out at the bars to keep an eye on her drink at all times…..a relatively new club drug called GHB was out there…..it's odorless, colorless and tasteless, but when you consume it - it's dangerous.
When Jeannie had a small off-campus party at her own house, she never dreamed she would be a victim of acquaintance rape, or that the rapist would use the powerful drug - GHB - Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate.
[Restituto] "That I thought was something that wouldn't happen in my house in Omaha, Nebraska."
Jeannie and her roommates invited a few fraternity guys from a nearby campus. All of them were familiar faces. When the party was winding down, her roommates fell asleep. One of the men offered to make her a drink in her kitchen - she accepted.
[Restituto] "From that point on, I just remember we moved into the living room and I sat down on the couch and I could…..the feeling I could remember is the feeling that my legs and body were getting really heavy, my head kept rolling. That kind of thing and that's when I knew that something wasn't right, but there wasn't anything I could do about it."
The next thing she remembers is lying in bed while the young man bragged to his friends about what he did.
[Restituto] "The next thing I know, I was in my bed, and he was, I woke up because I heard someone come in, and it was him and his friend and he came over and I was naked and he came over and lifted up the sheet to show his friend that I was in bed naked and I wasn't sure what was going on. I was awake at that point, but I pretended I was still asleep because I didn't want to, you know, wake up and deal with all of that."
She then called a friend who took her to Saint Joseph's hospital the next morning. Jeannie was reluctant, but the friend insisted. The friend also told the emergency room doctor to test for drugs in her system.
[Sara Wolter/Drug Educator] "The drug leaves the system relatively quickly and so testing blood or urine for the levels of the drug is going to be difficult, and the person doesn't even often realize they have taken it so then more time elapses before they can be tested."
[Restituto] "We had heard of other drugs, like Rohypnol, we weren't even sure if there were any other ones, but she knew from my description of what happened that night, and that's not what happened to me before. Even I knew something, I felt really weird. And I knew it wasn't from alcohol, it was from something different."
Two days later, Jeannie would find out it was GHB in her system when the test results came back from a Minnesota laboratory.
[Restituto] "A doctor called me and let me know and he told me a detective would be assigned to my case."
A female detective from the Omaha Police Department contacted Jeannie and started the investigation. The police department would not comment to Statewide for this story.
[Restituto] "They had never dealt with anything like this before - the impression that I had and they were doing research and looking up information, because they had never heard of GHB, it was fairly new to them."
Jeannie says her problems got worse when the detective prepared her report.
[Restituto] "Actually the detective told me that sometimes when you're in college you do stupid things, and when she was in college she would drink too much sometimes and black out and not remember what would happen the next day, but to me, that hurt because it wasn't from drinking too much and it was like she was trying to tell me - you drank too much that night - and I knew it was different."
Rape counselors say this is one of the worst things you can say to someone who was recently assaulted.
[Karin Prest/Omaha YWCA] "To reassure her that being raped is not her fault, I know that is what many people feel, that the victim should have worn different clothing or been, not been at a certain location with a certain person. But the truth of it is the rape is the decision of the rapist and victim is a victim."
The Omaha YWCA is one place where women and men can receive counseling to deal with sexual assault. Karin says now they're seeing at least one date rape DRUG case a month. Many times, the victims have no memory of the rapist.
[Prest] "Rape is bad enough, but to have no memory of the perpetrator, you have a body memory, which is one of the things that brings them into treatment is they feel something is wrong and that's the memory their body is giving them, but they can't remember when, where, they can't remember a face. The date rape drugs erases most short term memory."
Investigators did interview Jeannie's alleged rapist, and searched his home. He admitted to intercourse and drinking, but no proof of the GHB could be found. He was not available for comment.
[Restituto] "I'm not angry anymore like I was, but more scared of what he could be doing, kind of a helpless feeling."
Three years ago a couple of Dana College students were charged with making the drug in their dorm rooms. They gave samples of the drug to students at a Blair High School. At the time, the Police Department suspected even more GHB was out there.
[Chief Marvin Doeden/Blair Police Dept.] "The ease of manufacturing in a profit margin that's available, it would be logical to conclude that we better be looking for more."
[Wolter] "We're beginning to hear about it, more usage, if it happens on the coasts, it takes a while before it drifts over here, but eventually it drifts in this direction."
In the past, some athletes would use supplements with GHB to enhance performance. In 1990, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered GHB off the shelves. Currently some countries in Europe use the drug as an anesthetic.
[Jon Wagner/UNMC School of Pharmacy] "One of the reasons GHB is not used in this country is it has this unusual side effect. It doesn't produce seizures, but it has this seizure-like condition that occurs in some patients where they get very combative."
Jon Wagner is the Associate Dean at UNMC's School of Pharmacy. He says it's very disturbing, knowing that people who are not familiar with the drug and its effects are using it on the party scene.
[Wagner] "I think it's real scary. When you're talking about someone giving an anesthetic and administering it in a very haphazard fashion. I mean there's a clear dose-related response. A very small amount can make a person feel relaxed and calm, more can make them feel sedated, more can induce sleep, more a coma and beyond that death."
What many of us don't realize - is the ingredients to GBH can be found in our own homes.
It might be under the sink in a floor cleaner or maybe in a medicine cabinet as a nail polish remover, so it's a fairly toxic substance.
It took Jeannie a long time before she could relax around other people, but she won't let the rape dictate her life. She offers some advice to others.
[Restituto] "Be aware of where your drink is at all times, even if you're just going to the bathroom, and people you think you know, maybe you don't completely know. I'm not saying to assume everyone's evil because you can't live that way, but just to be cautious."
[Prest] "To feel safe doesn't necessarily mean you are safe. It's a hard lesson because you don't want to raise a group of young people who are cynical either. I mean it's a fine line. We have to teach people to have fun, but be careful."
Meanwhile, Jeannie is trying to move ahead with her life. She graduated from Creighton University and now attends Creighton's school of Occupational Therapy. She hopes to someday help other rape victims.
[Restituto] "I don't feel like right now I'm stable enough to help other people, I think in the future I will be."
Slowly she is starting to trust people again, but a part of her innocence is lost forever.