(2) "GHB is frequently used as a 'date rape drug.'"
This is a supreme example of "the big lie." Tell a lie often enough and people soon believe it. GHB is not a date rape drug. If, in fact, it has been used for such violent purposes, this is a microscopic fraction of GHB's total beneficial uses. Results of the most comprehensive study of the prevalence of various factors used to facilitate rape is illustrated in the figure below.
(Source: ElSohly, M.A., Salamone, S.J. Prevalence of drugs used in cases of alleged sexual assault, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 1999, 23 (3), 141-146).
Note that the most common factor in rape is physical force. The most commonly used mind-altering substance used to facilitate rape is alcohol. Now, alcohol is not even scheduled by the Controlled Substances Act! Yet alcohol is involved in almost ten times as many date rapes as GHB! The next most common substance involved is marijuana, which is a Schedule I (Schedule I is for substances with a high potential for abuse and absolutely no medical or therapeutic uses).
Tied for third is a class of drugs that includes Rohypnol. Rohypnol is a drug like Valium, with many similar effects. Rohypnol also causes amnesia. Surgeons like to use Rohypnol as a sedative/anti-anxiety agent prior to surgery, because the patient doesn't recall any pain (s)he may have experienced. However, Rohypnol is not even legal in the U.S. At the behest of a $40,000 lobbyist, Rohypnol was downgraded to Schedule 4-a much less restrictive classification. Yet Rohypnol (and drugs of its class) are involved in almost twice as many date rapes as GHB.
Tied with Rohypnol for third (and/ or fourth) place is crack cocaine-another substance that is also already a Schedule I. Why is GHB called the date rape drug when it is used in less than 4% of the alleged rapes. In the 48 cases in which GHB was detected, it was combined with one or more of the other drugs in 37 instances.