Date rape is a very serious modern age issue, and three high school students hope to prevent it with a (seemingly) simple solution - a straw!
Victoria Roca, Susana Cappello, and Carolina Baigorri are all students of Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, Florida. The girls created a one-of-a-kind straw during an entrepreneurship class they all took. They designed it to have two different strips that, when placed into a drink, will reveal if its contents are drugged or safe to consume.
"Being young women, I feel like this is a problem that we hear about a lot, especially when we came to high school," Baigorri told Inside Edition. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, date rapes are among the higher number of rape cases. Date rape usually takes place among college students, under the symptoms of alcohol or drugs consumption that makes the abuse more accessible. One of the most targeted groups are women between the ages of 16 to 24.
The innovative straw is able to detect traces of the most popular forms of date rape drugs, including roofies (Rohypnol), gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and ketamine (Special K). They also want to make the straws eco-friendly.
A patent for the straw, allowing the girls to market and sell their product, is currently in the works, and to fund the venture, the team proposed a crowd-funding campaign.
"We know it’s not a solution because it can’t end rape, but we were hoping to lower the amount of rape and dangerous situations you might be in through drugs," Baigorri said.
(h/t: 22words)
Students Victoria Roca, Susana Cappello, and Carolina Baigorri are fighting date rape
And they're using a straw as a weapon against it
The trio have invented a straw to detect traces of the most popular forms of date rape drugs, used to dope victims
The end of the straw turns blue if it's exposed to roofies (Rohypnol), gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), or ketamine (Special K)
"It can’t end rape, but we were hoping to lower the amount of rape and dangerous situations you might be in through drugs," Baigorri said
