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    • The Sean Combs drug case shines a light on a major problem in Ohio
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    The Sean Combs drug case shines a light on a major problem in Ohio

    Online Niel Posted on

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

    Stephanie Dershaw
    | Guest columnist

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

    Based on the allegations included in criminal charges against Sean Combsthe government says Combs drugged women without their consent to sexually assault them.

    Bringing criminal charges for drugged sexual assault varies from state to state.

    In Ohio, drugging without consent is a crime, but our state’s hospitals and law enforcement agencies have no uniform protocols or standards for collecting and refrigerating urine and blood from victims — vital evidence needed to pursue charges.

    The window for effective testing is often missed because the drugs used by perpetrators to commit their crimes are eliminated by the body before hospitals can test them, or hospitals simply don’t test them. knock out drugs.

    Untested children have consequences

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

    That means about 500 kits went untested, and since urine and blood must be properly refrigerated, the evidence is probably now useless.

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

    Drug-facilitated kits (these are the knock-out drug-testing kits), according to the forensic nurses who provide care to the victims, are processed in separate facilities from the rape kits, which typically contain DNA evidence.

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

    There are critical steps we can take.

    Change must happen

    Emergency departments can expand the number of paramedics who are trained to collect evidence from suspected survivors.

    In addition, 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 intentionally ingested are treated with contempt in hospital emergency rooms, and their claims of being high on GHB, ketamine, and other “rape drugs” are ignored.

    My organization is building a coalition of survivors, forensic nurses and other advocates to pressure hospitals, police departments and state health officials to fix evidence-gathering holes and prosecute serial rapists who drug their victims.

    Governor Mike DeWine, Senators JD Vance and Sherrod Brown and state lawmakers must pass 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 and more supportive community for all.

    our website, www.survivorsofdfsa.orgserves as an educational resource and community center where survivors and allies can connect.

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

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