Date rape drug victim channels anger into action

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The night started with three friends. A night out. And drinks.

But it ended in handcuffs, a mugshot and a stint in jail.

Adrienne Gang says she doesn't remember any of it.

"The last thing I remember was saying goodnight to my girlfriends," said Gang, a Valrico native woke up the next morning in a Hillsborough County Jail, facing one count of battery.

"I kept asking questions. No one would tell me why I was there," she said. "They told me that I should know why I was there," she added.

When she was released, Gang says she felt disoriented and was shaking. Her gut told her she was more than just hungover. She had been drugged.

The 30-year-old drove straight to a clinic to have her blood and urine tested for the date rape drug, Gamma Hydroxy-Butyric Acid, commonly known as GHB.

As she anxiously waited for the results, some of the missing puzzle pieces of the night started to fit.

"The glasses of wine that should've come from the bar, actually the waiter brought from a table of guys who we never spoke to, said Gang. "We never talked to them. They just sent drinks over to us."

Gang contacted a lawyer, who started to get even more answers.

"According to the cab driver's statement, I was dragged out of the bar," she said. "I wasn't able to stand up on my own. I was dragged out of the bar, thrown out of the back seat of the cab and then sent the wrong direction."

Confirmation came 10 days later in a call from a doctor.

"He said, 'You know what? You are lucky to be alive. I've never seen this high of a level of GHB in somebody's system that was still living.'"

According to pharmacist Gary Roberts, Gang's story isn't uncommon. He says GHB can have a variety of dangerous effects.

"You may wake up and not be able to move, you may be catatonic or somewhat paralyzed, chemically paralyzed and it can cause convulsions," Roberts said. "It can cause death or permanent damage."

Gang admits the incident made furious, but she is channeling that anger into action.

"Now, I feel like I'm fortunate that it happened to me instead of anybody else in that bar because I can actually do something about it," said Gang.

She's teamed up with Drink Safe Technologies -- a Tallahassee-based company that has created coasters and wallet-sized test strips that alert you to a tainted drink with just one drop.

A blue color indicates your drink has been drugged. But false positives are possible with drinks that contain some dairy and citrus products.

"My goal is to have this on a j-clip somewhere -- at CVS stores and such -- where you can walk right in and you can buy you a five-card or a 10-card test kit and you can carry it with you at any time," said company president Lance Norris.

Drink Savvy is another company that is launching similar drug-detecting products. With color-changing glasses, cups and straws set to hit the market next year, they turn red if your drink has been spiked with GHB, Ketamine or Rohypnol.

"You get continuous, effortless and discreet monitoring of your drink throughout the entire night," said founder Mike Abramson.

Abramson says his goal is to have the products embraced by bars, restaurants, colleges and military bases around the country and change overall safety standards.

"This is an incredibly under-reported crime," Abramson said. "Less than 5 percent of these cases ever get reported, so it's a very pervasive problem throughout the United States."

PRODUCT LINKS: Drink Safe Technologies | Drink Savvy

The new technology is something crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson believes is long overdue.

"I'm happy to see technology has caught up with ways to try to protect this sort of thing and help protect people who would be vulnerable to these things,"Jefferson said. "I'm all for it, simply because it's going to save lives."

While Gang's battery charge was eventually dropped, she says she now understands an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

"I think there's a lot of scenarios that could've happened," she said. "I think the least of the bad things that happened to me that night was that I ended up in the hands of the authorities because I very easily could've ended up in a ditch."