Madeline LeBlanc, a UMass Lowell pupil who lives in Pembroke, mentioned she believes her drink was spiked in August 2018.
“I was brought to the hospital where I was treated like a dumb, drunk teenage girl,” LeBlanc informed a bunch of lawmakers on Tuesday. “They didn’t have any testing available to test me for date rape drugs. So since then, I have lived with not knowing if and what was placed into my drink that night.”
And throughout her first week in school in September 2019, LeBlanc mentioned she was raped.
“I do believe that my drink was spiked by the monster who raped me, but I will never have proof because again, testing was not available, even with the rape kit,” she mentioned. “There has been a lot of unknown with both of these traumatic events. I wonder what drugs were put into my drink and were they different drugs both times? I wonder how many people they have done this too.”
LeBlanc mentioned she helps laws from state Sen. Paul Feeney that may require hospitals throughout the state to offer upon the request of a affected person kits to check for the presence of medicine generally used to spike drinks.
Feeney mentioned the invoice permits anybody to get examined at a hospital in the event that they consider somebody spiked their drink, a coverage push that the Foxborough Democrat mentioned is important to fight an “alarming” rise in drink-spiking circumstances.
“Time and time again, we’ve seen warnings from law enforcement officials to use the buddy system, cover your drink, make sure you’re not handing your drink over to anybody else, you’re leaving it unattended,” he mentioned at a legislative listening to Tuesday afternoon. “Yet, reports of these incidents persist.”
The invoice earmarks cash from the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Trust Fund to fund the event and implementation of testing requirements for patient-reported involuntary consumption of medicine generally used for drug-facilitated sexual assault, regardless if sexual assault occurred.
Money would even be used to ascertain a “trauma-based empathy training program” for nurses analyzing sufferers who’ve reported the involuntary consumption of medicine.
The proposal additionally requires the Department of Public Health to arrange a “date rape drug response and intervention task force” to review how one can finest gather information on confirmed incidents of drink spiking.
Feeney mentioned he heard from two Boston-area hospitals that modified their testing protocols after he filed his invoice.
“I’m glad that they did that. But again, we shouldn’t have a patchwork of care for people that are expecting to get tested when they show up,” he mentioned. “I’m happy those hospitals adapted but I think it’s important … that we do this across Massachusetts.”
The Boston Police Department acquired 116 studies of drink spiking final yr and police issued an alert on the subject in late-April 2023, urging individuals to verify their drink is served instantly from a bartender or server.
“Don’t allow people you don’t know or trust to order drinks and deliver them to you,” the division mentioned in a press release.
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta mentioned many individuals who shared their drink-spiking tales along with her have outlined how accountable they have been, how they solely had one or two drinks, however how shortly their evening modified for the more severe with out a affordable clarification.
“When they sought support from police or hospitals, they felt like there wasn’t sufficient resources, support or testing mechanisms in place,” Coletta mentioned on the State House.
And Coletta mentioned she additionally had a detailed name in school whereas at a nightclub.
The metropolis councilor mentioned she was hugging a buddy with an empty plastic cup in her hand when she felt the burden of what appeared like 1 / 4 drop within the cup. She mentioned she seemed all the way down to see a “large white pill that would have made me sick had my cup not been empty at that moment.”
“But it was a surreal experience that I never fully recovered from,” she mentioned.
Feeney can be the creator of a profitable modification to the Senate’s fiscal 2024 funds that authorizes the majority buy of drink spiking take a look at kits, which might be handed out to bars, eating places, and different nightlife institutions in Massachusetts.
LeBlanc mentioned the individual she suspected of spiking her drink in August 2018 was sporting an olive inexperienced shirt. The man who raped her in 2019, she mentioned, wore a blue shirt.
“I wonder if the guy wearing an olive green shirt would have been held accountable by the law for his heinous actions had there been testing available for date rape drugs,” she mentioned. “I wonder if the guy wearing a blue shirt who took advantage of my body, left my neck stiff, bruising on my upper arm, my stomach scratched, my vagina sore and a life full of trauma would have been held accountable by the law for his heinous actions had there been testing available.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”