close
close

Le-verdict

News with a Local Lens

    • Sean Combs drug case highlights major problem in Ohio
    minsta

    Sean Combs drug case highlights major problem in Ohio

    Pabio Posted on

    Governor Mike DeWine, Senators JD Vance and Sherrod Brown, and state legislators must enact statewide mandates and direct adequate funding to ensure universal testing.

    Stephanie Dershaw
    | Guest columnist

    play

    Stephanie Dershaw is the CEO of Survivors of Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault, dedicated to advocacy, education and support in Columbus.

    Amid the accusations included in the criminal indictment against Sean Combsthe government claims Combs drugged women without their consent in order to sexually assault them.

    Criminal prosecutions for drug-related sexual assault vary from state to state.

    In Ohio, drugging without consent is a crime, but our state’s hospitals and law enforcement lack uniform protocols or standards for collecting and refrigerating victims’ urine and blood — vital evidence necessary to pursue charges.

    The window for effective testing is often missed because the drugs used by perpetrators to commit their crimes are cleared from the body before hospitals test them, or hospitals simply do not test. knockout drugs.

    Untested children have consequences

    Based on data collected by my organization, Survivors of Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault, Ohio forensic nurses collected more than 700 blood and urine samples from suspected victims in 2023. Toxicology labs processed 200 .

    This means that around 500 kits were not tested, and because urine and blood must be properly refrigerated, the evidence is likely now useless.

    Even when urine and blood kits are collected from victims, the chain of custody for these kits in Ohio is unreliable and no entity or agency is held accountable.

    According to forensic nurses who provide care to victims, drug-facilitated kits (these are the kits that test for the presence of knockout drugs) are processed in separate facilities from rape kits, which typically contain DNA evidence.

    When hospitals and law enforcement fail to preserve evidence and investigate alleged crimes, perpetrators like Michael DiGiorgioa 50-year-old California man accused of drugging and sexually assaulting nine women and murdering one of them is free to strike again.

    We can take crucial steps.

    Change must happen

    Emergency departments can increase the number of forensic nurses trained to collect evidence from suspected survivors.

    Additionally, hospital staff and local law enforcement officers should be trained to treat victims with compassion. Too often, victims who test positive for illegal substances they voluntarily ingested are treated with contempt in hospital emergency rooms, and their claims that they were drugged with GHB, ketamine and others “date rape drugs” are ruled out.

    My organization is forming a coalition of survivors, forensic nurses and other advocates to pressure hospitals, police departments and state health officials to close gaps in evidence collection and prosecute serial rapists who drug their victims.

    Governor Mike DeWine, Senators JD Vance and Sherrod Brown, and state legislators must enact statewide mandates and direct adequate funding to ensure universal testing.

    My journey from survivor to advocate has shown me the power of community action. Together, we can ensure that my story, and those like mine, are a catalyst for a movement toward a safer, more supportive community for all.

    Our website, www.survivorsofdfsa.orgserves as an educational resource and community hub where survivors and their allies can connect.

    Stephanie Dershaw is the CEO of Survivors of Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault, dedicated to advocacy, education and support in Columbus.

    Pabio
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like