DrinkSavvy, a Massachusetts startup company, has designed new plastic cups and straws that detect the most commonly-used date rape drugs – GHB, Rohypnol and Ketamine.
The party cups are engineered with sensing strips that turn red when drugs are detected in a drink.
“If anyone puts a date rape drug into your drink, the DrinkSavvy party cup will immediately provide a visible color change, even in low lit bars, warning you to throw your drink out,” says the company.
DrinkSavvy’s product is particularly useful since the date rape drugs GHB, Rohypnol and Ketamine, are odorless, colorless and tasteless. The company’s new drug detecting products are expected to be released in September, and available to the public by mid 2014.
Founded by former engineering student Michael Abramson, the company got its start with the help of an Indiegogo campaign, and raised more than its goal of $50,000, allowing the company to create the drinkware line of straws and 16-ounce plastic cups.
Writing for the International Business Times, Treye Green notes Abramson, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, was apparently the victim of a date rape spiked beverage himself one night while at a Boston nightclub.
“Rohypnol was slipped into his drink and he woke up the next morning on his apartment stairs. That incident led him to begin a collaboration with chemistry and biochemistry researchers at his university to develop a way to make the date-rape drugs visible.”
DrinkSavvy is making the products available free to rape crisis centers. Abramson also has plans to recruit bars, clubs and even colleges to use the drinkware as part of the fight against drug-facilitated sexual assaults.
The company claims every year millions of men and women (many of them college students) are victims of drug-facilitated sexual assaults.
Once a rape drug is slipped into your drink, the drug causes unconsciousness and memory loss, making the victim defenseless against sexual assault.
Besides party cups, glasses, and straws, DrinkSavvy will also produce stirrers and swizzle sticks. All the products will immediately change color to warn you before you consume a rape drug. DrinkSavvy has posted several media interviews on their website.
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