Assessment of 19 years of a prospective national survey on drug-facilitated crimes in France

•- Chemical submission can affect victims of all ages not only youngest.•- Toxicological analyzes using appropriate methods are mandatory for diagnosis.•- The name “date-rape drug” is wrongly attributed to GHB (less than 4% of our cohort)•- Benzodiazepines deserve this naming due to their highest pr...

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Published in:Legal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) Japan), 2023-11, Vol.65, p.102297-102297, Article 102297
Main Authors: Djezzar, Samira, Gaulier, Jean-Michel, Gorgiard, Charlotte, Chèse, Marjorie, Alvarez, Jean-Claude, Martin, Claire, Dumestre-Toulet, Véronique, Lavit, Michel, Mathieu, Olivier, Eysseric, Hélène, Berland, Emilie, Roussel, Carine, Gaillard, Yvan, Hurtel-Lemaire, Anne-Sophie, Deveaux, Marc, Pion, Charlotte
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alcohol
benzodiazepines
chemical vulnerability
Date-rape drugs
Drug-facilitated crime
GHB
Life Sciences
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Summary:•- Chemical submission can affect victims of all ages not only youngest.•- Toxicological analyzes using appropriate methods are mandatory for diagnosis.•- The name “date-rape drug” is wrongly attributed to GHB (less than 4% of our cohort)•- Benzodiazepines deserve this naming due to their highest prevalence each year. Drug facilitated-crime or chemical submission (DFC/CS) is defined as the concealed or forced administration of psychoactive substances to a victim for criminal purposes. This is a national program set up in the early 2000s in the form of a prospective multicenter survey, the results of which this manuscript presents. Over this 19-year period, 5487 cases were collected, analyzed and classified into 54% of suspected cases, 29% of chemical vulnerability (CV) cases and 17% of proven DFC/CS cases. In the overall data, the most prevalent victims were female (81%), with an average age of 27 years. Sexual assault was the most frequent aggression (77%), followed by theft (14%). Victims of proven DFC/CS cases were from of all ages including children and elderly. In 934 victims of DFC/CS, 100 various psychoactive substances were detected mostly represented by benzodiazepines and z-drugs (55%), various sedatives including antihistamines (16%) and non-therapeutic substances (16%). Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) was found in 4% cases. In CV cases, alcohol (90%) and cannabis (32%) intake were mainly involved In France, despite prevention messages, DFC/CS has been an epidemic for many years and has been proven by our national study. This national program has the aim to identifying the substances used but unfortunately not the goal to fight against this phenomenon. Since 2009, we observed a new modus operandi of the aggressors who pose as taxi drivers facilitating the reception of the victims leaving nightclubs. We can emphasize that GHB is not the “date rape drug” but rather the benzodiazepine class is.
ISSN:1344-6223
1873-4162
DOI:10.1016/j.legalmed.2023.102297