It’s odorless, tasteless, dissolves fast, and it can be slipped into a drink without warning.

Rohypnol, otherwise known as the “date-rape drug,” is a rising concern on college campuses throughout the United States — this one included.

Tina Fessler, shelter operations director for the Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support (ACCESS), said the drug can cause total memory loss so a victim may not even remember being raped.

The drug, sometimes called “roofies,” can also cause paralysis and, when mixed with other drugs, even death.

Fessler said ACCESS is not aware of the drug being used in Ames — yet. “We tend to talk to other shelters,” she said. “As far as we know, we haven’t dealt with it. We know it is in other places of Iowa. It’s hard to know if it is being used.”

John Tinker, investigative coordinator with the Iowa State Department of Public Safety, and the Central Iowa Drug Task Force coordinator, said there have been no cases involving Rohypnol at ISU, but he’s on the look-out.

“I think it will make its way here,” Tinker said.

“Usually those things, if they’re trendy, take off on the coasts and then make their way to the Midwest. I expect it’s going to find it’s way into the Midwest, if it isn’t here already,” he said.

Use of the date rape drug began in Florida and Texas. It was first reported in Europe in the 1970s.

If and when the drug does make its way to ISU, Tinker said law enforcement officials will do what they can to identify those people who are using it. “There’s not a lot we can do prior to that,” he said. “We can try to make people aware that it may be on the way.”

Fessler said the inexpensive pills are sold for between $2 and $4 per pill.

Tinker said the best thing women can do to avoid the drug is to be careful of who offers them drinks. “If it is an open drink that someone gives you, a person may have put the drug in before you drank it,” he said.

As for the effects of the drug, Tinker said, “You’re kind of hazy. You know something may have happened, but you can’t put it all together.”

Kathleen MacKay, dean of students, said students should be worried about the drug. “I think students everywhere should be concerned about it. It’s all over the country,” she said.

“I think ISU is not immune from things on other campuses. I hope it doesn’t find its way here.”

MacKay said there have been workshops about Rohypnol to make students aware that the drug is out there. If students know about the drug, they can watch out for it and be protected, she said.

Many ISU sororities are educating their members about the drug.

Haley Aduddell, president of Pi Beta Phi, said members of her house heard of Rohypnol through distributed flyers. She said Pi Phi members have talked about “basic awareness” and have discussed a couple of incidents involving the date-rape drug.

Amy Quee, president of Delta Zeta, said Panhellenic representatives talked to her sorority about the drug.

Quee said members were told not to take drinks from men, to make sure they had their drink in their own hands and to always use the buddy system. “We told them about different cases that we knew of,” Quee said.

“It sounds like it’s very easy for people to get a hold of, and it seems very conspicuous.”