Rohypnol is one of the benzodiazepines, the class of drugs that includes such popular sedativehypnotic agents as Librium and Valium. Although marketed legally abroad, Rohypnol is illegal in the USA. Nevertheless, it is regularly smuggled into this country and has recently achieved notoriety here as a formidable chemical weapon utilized by rapists to overpower their female victims, many of whom have been selected from the high school and college social scenes. This article describes the criminal use of this central nervous system (CNS) depressant within a chemical context and emphasizes its pharmacological effects, mechanism of action, and physiological fate or biotransformation. Moreover, the article describes another drug that, unlike Rohypnol, has legitimate medical applications in the USA but has also been used by criminals to harm others under strikingly similar circumstances. This drug is lorazepam (Ativan), another benzodiazepine with sedativehypnotic properties. A key message of this article is that the chemistry classroom is an ideal setting for promoting awareness among students of the dangers of some of the drugs that have been developed for otherwise beneficial, therapeutic purposes but which have also acquired a sinister character.
The "Chemistry Teacher Connection" (CTC) is especially for high school chemistry teachers. For only $40/year, it offers an online-only subscription to CLIC along with membership in the Division of Chemical Education, normally $65/year. CTC subscribers receive access to all articles and supplements from 1996 through the current issue.
Through special arrangement with the ACS, JCE High School CLIC is now able to provide subscribers with online access to Chemical & Engineering News articles that have been selected specifically for secondary science instructors and their students.
Occasionally, collections of JCE back issues become available for donation to individual teachers, schools, or libraries. JCE matches collections with interested recipients. Recipients pay shipping costs or pick up the collection.
For journals in other fields of chemistry visit ACS Publications.
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