By Carly Brown, July 18, 2024, VOL. 5 ISSUE 23 

My name is Carly Brown, and I am a local author. When I heard the appalling news reports coming out of Sherkston Shores this past Canada Day long weekend, I knew I had to speak up. The use of the date rape drug GHB and multiple reports of sexual assault on women as young as sixteen made me cry.

At the risk of sounding alarmist, I have to say this: GHB has made it to our area, and we need to teach our young people, especially our young women, ways that they can protect themselves because they need to understand that something as simple as accepting a drink from a stranger could put them in a very dangerous position.

I have been roofied—it was at a nightclub in California. I was 22, a university student and I worked in bars as a cocktail waitress for years. I thought that I was street-smart and sophisticated, but they still got me. The bartender never turned around when he poured my drink. It was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had in my life, and I will never forget it.

I have written a novel about a woman that gets drugged, kidnapped and gang raped. I spent years researching some very uncomfortable topics and I learned that something as simple as accepting a drink from a stranger can have very dangerous consequences. I contacted the mayor to help me get this opportunity to share what I know with our young women.

This is my advice:

The most important thing that you should consider when you leave your home is your own personal safety– not who’s wearing the cutest outfit or who might be the most popular person there. Those things are not important, your personal safety should be your number one concern.

Be aware of your surroundings and what is going on around you at all times.  

Your gut instinct will not lie to you, if a person or a situation feels off to you, then you should leave. Make up some lie, ‘I didn’t do the dishes before I left, so my mom is coming to get me’ and leave. Hopefully, you have a supportive parent or guardian that you could call at any time, day or night to get you out of an uncomfortable/ unsafe situation.

Use the ‘buddy system’ and stay together with your friends and the people you go out with. Do not leave any friends behind, you must stick together at all times.

Never accept a drink from a stranger, especially if you do not see where it came from or what is in it. Date rape drugs are powerful sedatives meant to incapacitate you so that you lose control of yourself. Colorless, odourless and tasteless, they are easily hidden in drinks. When they are mixed with alcohol, they are undetectable—all a person with bad intentions has to do is mix those drugs with some fruit juice and alcohol and you will not be able to tell until they are all already in your system. The effects of the drugs are almost instantaneous, and they can last in your system for eight to 12 hours.  They render a victim virtually helpless as they lower your inhibitions and you become uncoordinated, unable to think clearly, and you are in no condition to take care of yourself.

Our young people are meant to go out and socialize. They want to experience life and all it has to offer. But in light of recent events at Sherkston Shores in Port Colborne, Ontario, it is now more important than ever that we teach them ways that they can protect themselves from these types of crimes.

The Celine Bower Story is a thriller, a fiction novel meant to entertain, but in a situation such as this, it could be used to educate our young women about the dangers of date rape drugs in our communities, and also serve as a warning that this could happen to you or someone you care about if you are not vigilant about your safety.

The Celine Bower Story, by Carly Brown, is available at the  Fort Erie Public Library, 136 Gilmore Road. It is also available in the online marketplace and Lakeside Books & Art, 341 Ridge Rd N, in Ridgeway.

I speak from experience when I say that accepting a drink laced with narcotics can be the most terrifying experience of a person’s life.