Rohypnol is just one of many cheap and accessible drugs that date rapists in Hong Kong are using against unsuspecting victims, according to social workers and medical professionals.
The drugs - from cough syrup to tranquilisers - are easily bought online and from unethical pharmacies, sex shops, dodgy doctors.
Ma Mei-kwan, who works with youths at risk, said tranquilisers such as zopiclone were bought by teenage boys at pharmacies for HK$2 to HK$3 each.
'They call them white melon seeds and they make girls fall asleep. The date rape liquid GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] is available at sex shops for HK$60 a bottle. It's tasteless and colourless, and makes the girls lose their memory of the situation,' said the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups officer.
'Nobody really pays HK$100 for Rohypnol any more. Some boys just pour cough syrup into cokes - which can mask the flavour - to soften girls up. Four out of 10 girls I meet have been forced to have sex with guys they met less than two weeks earlier, after getting drunk or drugged.'
Pharmacist William Chui Chun-ming said date rape drugs were usually tasteless and colourless.
