The Scope

The St. John’s arts and music festival Lawnya Vawnya has issued a letter of warning to its supporters following a report that someone was slipped a date-rape drug at a fundraising event on the weekend. It’s believed the drug used was flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol, or a similar deppressant.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary issued a statement last October that date-rape drug use, and related sexual assaults, are on the rise in St. John’s.

Here’s the text of the Facebook post by Lawnya Vawnya:

Hello friends. This shit is serious.

It’s come to our attention that a date-rape drug was slipped into a festival supporter’s drink at our fundraiser last night. We cannot condemn this shit loud enough and long enough, but of course, that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen again.

I encourage everyone to please, please, please: look out for each other. We’re a community, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t fuck-weasels in our midst. Watch your drinks. If you see anything REPORT IT. Not even fuzzy arts events are safe from this shit, so let’s look out for each other.

If you have suggestions on how we can make sure our events are safe, please share them with us.

Here’s a Memorial University information page on date-rape drugs.