Four students from SESI Gravataí College, in Rio Grande do Sul, started to develop, a year ago, a cup with a chemical reagent capable of identifying the presence of the drug GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid), popularly known as ‘Good Night Cinderella’. It has an anesthetic and sedative action, can be found in the form of a liquid, is colorless and has no smell.
In the world, the substance is classified as a “rape drug”, because it is mixed in people’s drink with the intention of doping them.
“During our research, we realized that there was a great use of narcotics used at parties to make people doped and make them vulnerable to kidnappings, robberies, assaults and sexual abuse”, the students say, adding that the case of Mariana Ferrer, who was doped and abused inside a club in Florianópolis in 2018, was an inspiration for the development of the project.
Concerned about the safety of women and inspired to solve a problem in society in a school program, 2nd year high school students, Giovanna Freitas, Giovanna Moraes, Nicolli Marques and Natally Souza, thought of developing a project in which it was possible to for the drug to be identified by the victim.
Through research, they used the dragerndorff colorimetric reagent, which, when in contact with the GDH, causes it to change to a reddish color.
The project is unprecedented in Brazil, but there are also other proposals for identifying the drug in beverages. Made of propylene, the solid base of the cup would hold the chemical reagent and could be used over and over again.
“Our biggest difficulty at the moment is to produce this solid base. We already have the reagent that we would use, but like all other colorimetric reagents, it is also toxic and we are working in a way that it does not intoxicate a person when used”, they explain.
In addition to continuing the research, which should be completed by next year, when the girls must graduate from the College, they are also looking for a sponsor that can offer a laboratory where the experiments can be furthered. At the moment, they take tests at school, with the help of teachers, and receive financial support from another sponsor.
At the beginning of October, the girls presented the project at Sesi com Ciência, one of the biggest education events in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Projects in the legislature
Bill 1018/2019, by deputy Mário Heringer (PDT-MG) in the Chamber of Deputies, proposes the inclusion as a heinous crime of the ‘libidinous act through fraud, induction or coercion to use a psychotropic substance or any other means that prevents or hinders the free manifestation of the victim’s will or alter his psychic state’. The penalty of imprisonment is ten to fifteen years. The project was received, three years ago, by the Constitution of the Commission and Justice, for evaluation of merit and/or admissibility.
Another project that is being processed by the Legislative Assembly of Tocantins, authored by deputy Amália Santana, from 2020, proposes that establishments of a commercial nature such as bars, nightclubs, bus stations, interstate buses and the like, must post warning signs in visible places. , to avoid an action known as “Good Night Cinderella and/or Baptized Drink”.
Source: CNN Brasil
