College students can now arm themselves with a weapon that will protect against date rape drugs.

Guardian Angel test kits, created in Las Vegas, detect traces of date rape drugs in drinks. The kits combat gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB.

“Basically, you remove the strip or stick from the container and place it in the beverage for about a second and observe the stick,” Cutler said. “Every time we’ve put them into GHB, it responds with a positive color change – the more GHB, the darker the color.”

The paper itself is a golden yellow color and turns wet with a negative response. With a positive response, the paper will turn brown or purple, depending on the type of sodium salt used to make the GHB.

Cutler said she would like to see GHB date rapes abolished.

“This type of tool could deter a perpetrator,” Cutler said.

She hopes, through education, to let people know they can protect themselves from this drug.

Their Web site, www.test4ghb.com, sells test strips and swizzle sticks. Cutler said the site sells five test strips for $5, and each strip can be used three times.

“The strips are nontoxic and have been tested by federal labs that confirm our claims,” Cutler said. “The strips have been through FDA regulations and passed.”

When Cutler goes out at night, she gives the kits away as much as she can and always carries one of her own. Cutler said this is not a money-making endeavor for her.

“We are a small company with no large investors. We are expanding very slowly in our state alone and have branched out to California,” Cutler said.

The Web site warns the test strips only test for GHB and cannot be used to test for other drugs.

She said they have been in sales negotiations with other countries, where GHB is not illegal.

“I think any tool that will help combat date rape drugs and drugs facilitating sexual assault are good,” said Julie Harders, program manager for the Department of Public Safety.

While Iowa State has not had a confirmed case of drugs being used in a rape case, it should still be a concern for students, Harders said.

“Alcohol remains the No. 1 date rape drug and is involved in about 90 percent of sexual assaults,” Harders said.

That includes alcohol consumption by either the victim or perpetrator, she said.

“There are a wide variety of date rape drugs because almost any illegal drug can be used to incapacitate victims when added to a drink,” Harders said.

Date rape drugs are a concern for ISU students as well as other campuses, Harders said.

“We don’t have any verified reports of drugs being placed into drinks, though there have been situations that sound like they fit the description of a drink being laced or a drug being dropped into a drink,” she said.

Some symptoms to look out for are feeling incoherent, feeling drunk after having only one or two drinks, loss of memory and blacking out, Harders said.

The Sexual Assault Response Team is a countywide team that responds to sexual assaults.

“The police numbers are substantially lower than the number of the response team,” Harders said.

“If you were to ask ACCESS or a local rape crisis center, they would have different numbers.”

Seven sexual assaults were reported on campus in 2001, Harders said.