This paper gives a general overview of the drug-facilitated sexual assault phenomenon. Sexual assault perpetrated on both women and men, while incapacitated by so-called date-rape drugs, recently became the focus of many investigations conducted by law enforcement agencies in the US throughout the 1990s; an alarming increase in reports of this crime as well as in the number of scientific publications on drug-facilitated sexual assault has been observed. The list of drugs reportedly associated with sexual assault is long and among others includes flunitrazepam with other benzodiazepines such as diazepam, temazepam, clonazepam, oxazepam, as well as gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), ketamine, and scopolamine. We discuss the most recent analytical developments in the toxicological investigation of drug-facilitated rape designed to reveal drug presence and that may help successfully prosecute perpetrators.

In recent years, drugs including flunitrazepam, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, ketamine, and ethanol, have become popularly associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault. Other drugs are also candidates as factors in "drug facilitated sexual assault" (DFSA). The true extent of DFSA is not known, and is difficult to estimate. We recruited sexual assault complainants at four clinics in different parts of the U.S. to anonymously provide urine and hair specimens, and to answer questions about suspected drugging, drug use, and the sexual assault incident. Urine and hair specimens were tested for 45 drugs, including ethanol, and those pharmacologically capable of inducing sedation, amnesia, or impairment of judgment. Analytical test results were used to estimate the proportion of subjects, and the proportion of all complainants to the clinic in the same time period, who were victims of DFSA. Overall, cases of 43% of 144 subjects, and 7% of 859 complainants, were characterized as DFSA. Subjects underreported their use of drugs. The role of toxicological results and history in characterizing DFSA cases is discussed.

The objective of this study was to develop a screening process for the analysis of sexual assault samples. Recently, the Society of Forensic Toxicologists created a committee to address the issue of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in the toxicology field. This committee prepared a list of drugs that could be, or have been, used in DFSAs. The list comprises about 50 compounds, including illicit, prescription, and over-the-counter drugs. Using this list, our laboratory wanted an easy, fast, and sensitive method to analyze a urine sample for all 50 of these drugs. We screened and confirmed for 20 compounds, including cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, opiates, methadone, alcohol, and PCP. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric screening method that was able to detect the remaining 30 compounds following 1 extraction and using only 2 mL of urine was developed. The process is inexpensive and uses equipment available in most forensic toxicology laboratories. This method is recommended for any laboratory that commonly receives specimens collected from sexual assault victims and is interested in a more thorough analysis.

All published and unpublished population frequency data that could be located for U.S. populations are tabulated and presented for the serum group systems haptoglobin (α-chain), group specific component, and transferrin and for the common β-chain variants of hemoglobin. Results obtained by combining data for comparable racial/ethnic groups are also presented. Some evidence is presented to indicate that the results obtained from the combined data may give better information on frequencies for the U.S. population at large than is obtainable from studies conducted in restricted geographic areas.

We describe the origins, purposes, and findings of a national study to determine whether a large-scale program of blind proficiency testing in U.S. DNA laboratories is feasible and/or practical. Proficiency testing in clinical laboratories is reviewed, particularly as mandated by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Acts and its role in the regulation of those laboratories. Proficiency testing in forensic urine drug testing labs is also briefly reviewed. Studies involving comparisons between open and blind proficiency testing are discussed. The clinical laboratory proficiency testing and regulation landscape provides the background for the DNA Act of 1994, and the congressional mandate to investigate blind proficiency testing in forensic DNA laboratories. Four models of blind proficiency testing are defined and discussed, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each and estimates of the costs of a large-scale program. The purposes of proficiency testing in a quality-assurance context are likewise discussed and related to the models and the arguments generally proffered for and against blind vs. open proficiency testing.