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The Council of the Danish Victims Fund provides DKK three million to support a new research project which will make it easier to identify the use of fantasy in drug rape. Among the researchers behind the project are Clinical Associate Professor Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen and Senior Researcher Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm from Aarhus University.
2021.12.16 |
Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm and Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen, who is also a consultant at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Aarhus University Hospital.
The drug GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrat) – also known as fantasy – may be the guilty substance in drug rape. The liquid fluid affects both consciousness and memory, but is untraceable in the blood after twelve hours from the time it was ingested.
Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen and her research colleagues from the Department of Forensic Medicine will find alternative biomarkers for GHB than the substance itself in the blood. They have received a grant of DKK 3 million from The Council of the Danish Victims Fund, which will be used for a study of thirty people who either take GHB or a placebo. Analyses of blood, urine, saliva, hair and tartar will be used to identify markers that show that GHB has been in the body.
In addition, the project will clarify whether possible biomarkers found in the Department of Forensic Medicine's database of blood samples from road users who have taken GHB remain in the body for longer than the GHB itself. If the study succeeds in finding new evidence for the presence of the drug, this will have a major impact on clarifying the use of GHB and will also improve the legal rights of victims of drug rape.
Contact
Clinical Associate Professor Charlotte Uggerhøj Andersen
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Clinical Pharmacology
Mobile: (+45) 6012 8430
Email: cua@forens.au.dk