In 2017, three teenage girls entered the Miami Herald’s Business Plan Challenge with a straw to detect date-rape drugs and they won the first prize for their device.
The one advice every girl receives before going on a date is to not let her drink go out of sight. While we all know that it is an important bit of advice, we do not stop hoping and wonder if we could just relax and not worry all the time.
Victoria Roca, 18, Susana Cappello, 17, and Carolina Baigorri, 17, students of Miami’s Florida’s Gulliver Preparatory School attended an entrepreneurship class where they came up with the concept of creating “Smart Straws”.
The design of the straws includes two testing strips. When placed in a drink, the strips will turn light blue if they detect any substance used for sexual abuse like Roofies (Rohypnol), Ketamine (Special K), and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB). In short, these straws will detect date-rape drugs in your drinks and keep you safe. You won’t need to keep looking over your shoulder every minute.
Date-rape, according to a 2016 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is the most frequently occurring rape. 21 percent of the female population within the age group of 16-24 reported being sexually abused under the influence of drugs and alcohol after coming to college.
The trio is currently working to make their invention more effective. According to Cappello, they are improvising on their current model. They are focusing on making it eco-friendly. They are also trying to alter the size of their model so that it could be used across glasses of any size.
The team is going to patent their model. They are also talking to manufacturers to bring their product to the market. They want these straws to be cheap, affordable, and eco-friendly. They are determined to make a change through their invention which is likely to protect several women.
But for now, it is important to keep in mind the necessary precautions. The age-old advice of not leaving your drink with a stranger, and carrying it to the bathroom with you will always be there. Taking precautions would include not drinking communal bowls and always having a close friend there to look after you. You will need to detect date-rape drugs only if you miss the part when someone puts it in. It always helps to be aware of your surroundings and the people around you. Hopefully, a day will come when the need for such devices, along with such practices, will come to an end.
