Signs of Being Roofied & How to Recover FHE Health VOBOC FOUNDATION

One small tablet of Rohypnol can cause a person to pass out and forget what happened to them while under the influence. The strongest physical effects are usually felt within the first 6 hours and typically wear off around 12 hours after ingestion. Have you or someone you know going through the pain of getting roofied? Our caring team specializes in addressing the emotional, physical, and psychological consequences of drug-related abuse. We provide tailored care plans to help you heal and regain control.

Finding Expert Help for Roofied Abuse? Call GBAC!

Contrary to expectations, you don’t have to be at a bar or club to get roofied. A family member or romantic partner can slip a roofie into your drink when making or holding it for you. Moreover, you can get roofied even if you’re just drinking water or juice.

If you’re drinking a light-colored beverage, you should see the change in color. However, the blue dye may be harder to notice or hidden in dark-colored beverages. There are also generic forms of Rohypnol that don’t contain the dye. If you haven’t already fallen asleep, you’ll likely lose consciousness at that point. Roofies are a type of benzodiazepine, a group of drugs that affect brain chemicals and slow the central nervous system. The amount of time a roofie stays in your system can also depend on a variety of other factors, such as a person’s size, age, and metabolism.

How Common Is Being Roofied?

They will be able to offer counseling, arrange health screenings, and advise about pursuing criminal charges against attackers. The sedative effects of Rohypnol are up to 10 times stronger than Valium. Recovering from the physical drug effects of being roofied often takes about a day, but recovering emotionally and mentally may take many years. Noticing roofied symptoms right away can save lives and help protect against sexual assault and other drug-related crimes.

Rape, sexual assault, and harassment helplines and support

Because roofies can make a person throw up, it can be hard to tell if a person has been roofied or is just recovering from alcohol consumption. However, with roofies, a person might have nausea and vomiting even if they have only had one or two drinks. Rohypnols, also known as “roofies,” are powerful sedatives that belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. They are best known for their use in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Being aware of these behavioral symptoms is an important step in understanding if you were roofied.

Which Drugs Are Used to Roofie?

• If you’re with friends, alert them so they can keep an eye on you and intervene if necessary.
• The drugs change, but the goal — sexual assault — remains the same.
• The symptoms of being roofied include loss of inhibition, difficulty moving and speaking, confusion, drowsiness, and falling asleep.
• Remind them that the traumatic event wasn’t their fault, especially if they were sexually assaulted or raped.
• These drugs are typically colorless, odorless, and tasteless, making them easy to slip into drinks without detection.
• Spiking a drink, like any other form of abuse, is about asserting power and control over another person.

Signs include sudden dizziness, confusion, slurred speech, blurred vision, memory loss, nausea, extreme drowsiness, and difficulty moving. These symptoms often appear suddenly and may not match the amount of alcohol consumed. A fun night out can become a nightmare when you suddenly experience roofied symptoms. The situation can worsen if this happens around people who don’t know how to spot symptoms of being roofied and get medical help. Learning these symptoms in advance can go a long way in preventing severe side effects of being roofied. Roofies have become so synonymous with rape that the act of drugging someone’s drink with any substance is collectively called “roofying”.

The attacker may also use force, threats, or take advantage of the victim’s impaired state to commit the assault. If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at

What Does a Roofied Drink Look Like?

• Express clearly what you’re feeling and why you suspect something might not be right.
• The risks of Rohypnol are both physical and psychological, with potentially life-threatening consequences.
• This is one of the reasons why it is so important to get help from someone you trust and to get to a safe space if you have been roofied.
• Being Roofied is a terrifying feeling that can occur unexpectedly in social situations.
• These drugs are typically odorless, colorless, and tasteless, making them easy to slip into someone’s drink unnoticed.

It can be helpful to watch for signs of being roofied like loss of consciousness, dizziness, difficulty moving, or nausea and vomiting. One way to prevent being roofied is by keeping your drink with you at all times when you are out and not accepting drinks from strangers. Since it can be so hard to tell if a drink has been roofied, it is important to keep your own drinks close to you when you are going out and to not accept drinks from strangers. “Roofies” contain Rohypnol or other common date-rape drugs such as gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) or ketamine. However, the term roofie is most commonly related to sexual crimes, such as date rape.

Why would someone roofie a drink?

Unfortunately, roofies are commonly used to make victims weaker to sexual assault. Cassandra Sierra is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Addiction Professional with over 30 years of experience in mental health and addiction recovery. She has served as Director of Mental Health Services in Palm Beach County, FL, and co-founded the Miracles Club, Inc., supporting recovery since 2001. Keeping a journal of your experience, symptoms, and feelings can provide clarity and help professionals understand your situation better. This information can also be valuable if you decide to report the incident later on.

What Are the Symptoms of Being Roofied?

Urine samples need to be collected in just 72 hours, and saliva and drug tests are normally ineffective in under 24 hours. More elaborate hair follicle testing can be conducted after 72 hours, but may produce a false-positive result if other benzodiazepines are present in the system. Amusement – It may seem cruel and unusual, but some victims of being roofied have had it done to them just for the enjoyment of other people. They might feel extremely ill and have a hard time remembering what happened to them.

Regardless of why roofies are used on others, any instance of someone using the drug on another person is a criminal offense. In fact, despite being a Schedule IV substance, possession, distribution and manufacturing of Rohypnol carry the same criminal charges as Schedule I substances such as heroin. You can read more here about how long GHB lasts and how to spot signs of GHB spiking.

It peaks within 25 minutes and lasts for an additional 20 minutes. GHB has a similar effect to Rohypnol but without such extreme muscle paralysis and amnesia. Still, you’re not likely to remember what happened while under the drug’s effect. If a person wants to spike how to know if you got roofied your drink, they may try to mask the saltiness with a strong alcoholic beverage or a sweet liqueur.