High School Girls Invent A Straw That Detects Date-Rape Drugs

One way to lower the obscenely high percentage of women who are sexually assaulted on college campuses is by eliminating the use of date rape drugs. A 2015 study by The Washington Post found that 9 percent of women who have been sexually assaulted believe they were administered a drug beforehand. Now, three high school girls have created a special straw that can discover these drugs in a drink, preventing an assault.

Victoria Roca, Susana Cappello, and Carolina Baigorri are all students at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, Florida. For the Business Plan Challenge High School Track competition, the three created a special straw that detects the most widely used date-rape drugs, including: Rohypnol, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), and ketamine (Special K). Straw users can nondescriptly drop one in their drink, and if there is a drug present, the tip turns blue.

“Being young women, I feel like this is a problem that we hear about a lot, especially when we came to high school,” Baigorri told Inside Edition. “We know it’s not a solution because it can’t end rape, but we were hoping to lower the amount of rape and dangerous situations you might be in through drugs,” Baigorri continued. “Our impact is just to help people feel safe in their surroundings and be aware of what’s going on, and just to make sure that where they are and what they are drinking is safe,” Cappello added.

The competition judges loved the simple straw concept because they can easily be distributed by college health clinics and transported in purses. The straws are patent pending, and the girls are currently consulting with a test-kit maker about manufacturing their product.