DrinkSavvy Cups Detect Date Rape Drugs: Creator a Victim

DrinkSavvy Cups Detect Date Rape Drugs: Creator a Victim
DrinkSavvy cups change color when they come into contact with the tasteless, odorless date-rape drugs. (Screenshot/Indiegogo.com)
Tara MacIsaac
8/12/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

Mike Abramson is the founder of DrinkSavvy, and a victim of sexual assault after drugs were slipped in his drink. Drugs such as gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), ketamine, and rohypnol are commonly used as tasteless sedatives dropped into people’s drinks at bars, thus rendering them defenseless against sexual assault. 

DrinkSavvy makes cups and straws that detect these drugs. The products are made of a material that changes color when it comes into contact with any of these drugs. The company will start shipping its products next month and Abramson hopes they will soon be widely used by bars and clubs.

He used Indiegogo.com to crowdfund his enterprise, raising $52,089 and surpassing his goal of $50,000. Dr. John MacDonald, a professor of chemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, helped develop the product.

Abramson explained why he started DrinkSavvy: “Within the past three years, three of my very close friends and myself have been the unwitting victims of being drugged. With over a million estimated victims every year, chances are that someone close to you has had a very similar experience and I want to prevent it from happening to anyone else.”

He said, while people have generally become aware of the need to watch their drinks, “It’s impossible to keep an eye on your drink all night.”