Nine Hospitalized with Alcohol Poisoning (Fraternities' Party, U. of Colorado)

[Rudey]

So no date rape drugs?

How do the girls that were screaming "Rape, Rape" feel now?

-Rudey

Originally posted by Lorem Ipsum
No GHB found
Deck: Tests in GHB case come back negative
By STEPHANIE OLSEN
Colorado Daily Staff Writer

It now appears that drugs were not involved in the Sept. 24 hospitalization of nine CU women admitted for alcohol and suspected overdoses of the date-rape drug gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB).
Ryan Lynch, internal vice president of the Interfraternity Council (IFC), told the Colorado Daily Wednesday afternoon he was told by a “reliable source” directly involved with a police investigation that tests sent back to labs for re-testing by the Boulder Police Department came back negative for GHB.
“Whatever problems they had I don’t know,” said Lynch. “I’m hoping they come out and admit that there was indeed a problem, what the problem was and how they intend on preventing something like that from happening again.”
Julie Brooks, public information officer for the Boulder Police Department, confirmed that test results did indeed come back Wednesday, but declined to say if the results were positive or negative.
“I don’t have all the information, but they came back today and they (police) are taking today to notify the women that are involved,” said Brooks. “Our first priority has to go to the women before the media.”
Brooks said an investigator in the case is working on the press release that will be released to the media today. She said the release couldn’t be available Wednesday because there is substantial “technical information” to be explained to the public in the release.
“We don’t want to say no comment, but we’re not available to release that information yet,” Brooks said Wednesday afternoon.
During the early morning hours of Sept. 24, nine CU women were hospitalized for suspicion of alcohol poisoning after attending parties around the CU campus.
Some of the women had attended parties at the Sigma Pi and Phi Kappa Tau fraternities.
On Oct. 6, Boulder police released information indicating positive toxicology results for the common “date-rape” drug GHB in two of the nine cases.
One of the women was reported to contain levels of GHB that had been fatal in the past.
Lynch said he hopes the scrutiny of fraternities is over for the meantime.
“It certainly shows how people will automatically assume guilt if it has to do with a fraternity, and that’s based on our current public persona which we are trying to change,” he said. “It’s really hard to combat that even after you’ve been exonerated. The damage has already been done. There’s little you can do except just keep on doing what we’re doing, and that’s trying to change the culture here.”

Contact Stephanie Olsen about this story at 303-443-6272 ext. 125 or at olsen@coloradodaily.com.