A simple kit allows you to detect if someone has put drugs that cancel the will in your glass

“I felt bad, I got dizzy and I wanted to vomit. I did not know if it was because she had drunk too much or because she had been drugged, because she did not remember anything. This is a testimony collected in one of the workshops organized by the

to evaluate a kit called

that detects the drug GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) in drinks, known as

. The objective is none other than to provide young women with a personal protection instrument capable of preventing sexual assaults by chemical submission, which according to the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES) reaches 20% of the total.

The complaints of victims of crimes who had their will canceled after consuming a drink have multiplied up to 500% and, in the case of

, the profile is of women under 30 who go to a hospital without remembering anything about it. happened and there is no trace of substances in your body. This is the case of the young woman from Igualada, who comes up among the university students who attend this workshop in which EL MUNDO also participates.

«Ecstasy is metabolized very quickly: in between six and 12 hours it disappears from the body.

That is why the important thing is to be able to prevent ».

He tells

, a

member of the research group

that developed the kit while divided between thirty students, many girls as boys who have come to be

interested.

Everyone is given an envelope with some simple instructions, two small vials with the reagent, a dropper, and they are offered bottles with beer, vodka with orange and a cola, some contaminated and others not.

One drop and ... color change

What they have to do is take a drop of the drink and place it in the vial, which just by shaking

and, therefore, it is contaminated. "The reliability of this test is very high and it works - explains the researcher S

- both in pure alcoholic beverages and in mixed drinks and soft drinks". In addition, according to the latest advances, they have found that the same vial can be used up to five times if there is no positive.

The research group has been working for years in the detection of substances of biological interest and they decided to embark on the path of making ecstasy detectable with simplicity, "because it is the most common drug in

", reflects Gaviña. In the discovery, already patented, there was something of “serendipity”, “because we wanted to synthesize another molecule, but we were wrong and we saw that this sensor worked better. We have up to three reagents that give different and even fluorescent colors ».

Efforts are now focused on polishing the kit, that is, making it much more manageable - it already is - and discreet.

"Because you have to overcome what they will think of me if they see me doing the test," adds another of the researchers,

.

They are in contact with the Technological Institute of Plastic (Aimplast) to make even smaller vials and they have already seen that a strip is much more practical, effective and discreet than the dropper.

,

Pablo reiterates.

In fact, when it reaches the market it is so simple that its cost "could not exceed 50 cents and be sold as a parapharmacy product."

The problem is what to do after verifying that someone has put drugs in the cup. Drinking is discarded and danger escapes, but it can be difficult to identify who did it and much more to accuse him. "This test

, although we are working to see what requirements would be needed to achieve it," explained Silvia to the questions of some young people, who proposed the possibility that these kits could be in the hands of health workers and security forces. security to corroborate the attempted assault.

Gaviña qualified.

And not only in the face of possible criminal activity, but also in the face of the refusal to consume drugs in a recreational manner that, due to the general assent in the room, is leading to the group at university parties through drinks.

An essential part for the advancement of this research, funded by the

and the Valencian Agency for Innovation, is that the kit is used.

In fact, it includes a stamped envelope for students to send anonymously and free of charge any positive samples they can find.

Collaboration of leisure venues

These workshops were held together for the students of the Valencian public universities but, as it is a pioneering initiative aimed especially at young people, there are other centers that have already approached the team to disseminate the research.

Specifically, there are online workshops scheduled with the universities of

and

, to which kits will be sent to be distributed among the participating students.

The imput that led this team of researchers to find out how to easily detect submission drugs in drinks was to see how girls who went to bars were advised to take their glasses to the bathroom so as not to lose sight of them.

Although there are cases in private parties or large bottles, in pubs and discos is where they are concentrated.

In fact, in the UK there has been a women's movement promoting boycotts of certain venues following the proliferation of cases.

Police have acknowledged that in the past two months there have been

of women being drugged through their drinks.

In the debate at the workshop organized by Nosum, these doubts also arose: can the locals contribute to this vigilance?

Four of the MODeLic group researchers who have developed Nosum.DAVID ARENAS

The research group is contacting beverage distribution companies, hospitality and nightlife associations to extend the project. "We thought they

" Gaviña suggested. The general conclusion is that having this product, when it is commercialized or experimentally within the investigation, could provide "

and discourage these practices.

While this does not happen and the kit is not standardized, the advice of the chemists is, before any symptoms, to rely on someone you trust to be accompanied and, in the case of suspecting an attack,

to try to detect the presence in blood.

The Community of Madrid is, at the moment, the only one that has developed a protocol for chemical submission in Primary Care centers.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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