Cautionary Tale: Ruphenol

A few years ago (2001 maybe -- I remember Ann Richards of Texas had just died), a bunch of girlfriends & I attended a YMCA event at the SF waterfront. After, some of us went to a nearby restaurant for food & wine and ended up chatting with a small group of unctuous but friendly men there. One them was a small-time wannabe SF politician who was running for Board of Directors for the SF-Brisbane Municipal Utility District. I think one of them was a small-time drug dealer (I put a lot of the pieces together later).

In a collossal act of poor judgement (I had recently gone through a painful breakup from a relationship so wasn't thinking clearly), I went out for another drink with two of these guys when my girlfriends called it a night. I had just one drink with these guys, and the wannabe small-time politico guy (let's call him Joe) slipped a dose of ruphenol into my drink (roofies, the date-rape drug). He did it when I went to the rest room. (Another act of monumental foolishness: I had left my drink with these guys for a moment.)

How do I know he did that? I added up the clues later.

When I returned from the restroom I took a sip of my drink; it tasted kind of weird and I didn't finish it. I remember thinking it tasted slightly salty and looked a little bit foamy. One of the guys was older (late 50s-early 60s) and is a local businessman; I don't know if he was in on what his pal was doing. We all left the bar, and the businessman went off on his own. Joe bummed a ride from me. Getting into the car, I felt nauseated & like I was going to pass out. I NEVER get that way from drinking, and I hadn't had much to drink. Felt like my head was hit by a sledgehammer.

He kept trying to fondle and grope me in the car. At one point he had his dick out of his pants. I had no idea what was going on; I was like a zombie, which is so frightening. Finally he kind of gave up trying to get his rocks off and ordered me to drive (in my condition!). He had me drive him up to Van Ness near Sutter, and then he hopped out of my car at a red light. I immediately turned down an alley, parked my car and passed out. Several hours passed, and then I started to kind of come to and wonder what the hell was wrong with me. Finally, around sunrise I managed to drive home, and spent the entire day in bed, too nauseated to move. I spoke with someone at a rape trauma center and we determined it must've been ruphenol.

All in all, I was very lucky for having been so careless. Please be more vigilant than I was that night. By the way, I looked him up on the internet back then, and I'm pretty sure his website said something about his wife being very ill with cancer. What a nice guy.