MANSFIELD — After suspecting her drink was spiked with a date rape drug in October at a party in Boston, local resident Brinly Meelia made a TikTok video that went viral.
In the video, the 20-year-old Northeastern University sophomore spoke about how a Boston hospital refused to test her because she hadn’t been sexually assaulted.
“The biggest emotion I felt was anger. What does that have to do with anything? Just because I wasn’t raped you can’t tell me if I was drugged?” Meelia told The Sun Chronicle Wednesday.
The video caught the attention of state Sen. Paul Feeney, D-Foxboro, who this week filed legislation he hopes will protect date rape drugging victims.
The bill calls for creating a standard practice for date rape drug testing in hospitals regardless of whether someone was sexually assaulted.
“It is critical that we create a uniform testing standard across our hospital system for the presence of date rape drugs, whether or not a sexual assault has occurred,” said Feeney, who represents Mansfield, Norton, North Attleboro and Attleboro.
“Ensuring that the proper resources are available to victims of date rape drugs should be a top priority as we address this alarming and illegal practice,” Feeney said. “I look forward to partnering with and advocating for survivors this legislative session.”
Meelia, a 2020 Mansfield High School graduate, said Feeney’s office contacted her and she met with the senator to talk about her concerns. She said she is willing to testify in favor of the legislation at the Statehouse.
Meelia said she and her boyfriend were at an off-campus party in Boston when she suddenly felt tired. She said she had had an alcoholic drink but was not intoxicated.
The following morning, Meelia said she did not feel right and she and her boyfriend concluded she may have been “roofied.”
“It was just a weird feeling. It was a blackout period,” Meelia said.
After spending 90 minutes in the hospital where she was told she could not be tested, Meelia obtained a urine test at the health center at Northeastern where it was determined she was drugged with Rohypnol.
Rohypnol and other date rape drugs are odorless, colorless and tasteless.
Rohypnol is used to treat insomnia and produces strong amnesia on unsuspecting victims of date rape that limits or eliminates their ability to have a memory of an assault.
Feeney said Meelia’s experience is “all too common” in the state as evidenced by news stories on date rape drug incidents over the last year alone.
Creating a standard practice for date rape drug testing in a hospital setting, regardless of whether a sexual assault has occurred “is needed to support victims and address this new emerging public health crisis, particularly among young people,” Feeney said.
In the last five years, Attleboro police investigated one complaint about an alleged roofie incident but it did not result in criminal charges. Other area police officials say they have not had any incidents reported to them.
However, Boston police last year sent out an alert about an increase of drink spiking at city bars and Barnstable police also received reports of bar patrons feeling the effects of possible date rape drugs.
Feeney’s bill is called “An Act establishing testing protocol and care for victims of date rape drugs.”
Also included in the legislation is a provision to create a “Date Rape Drug Response and Intervention Task Force” to study, report and recommend regulations about hospital care for victims of date rape drugs.
The task force would be assigned with collecting data and tracking confirmed drugging incidents and issuing recommendations on standardizing care and testing at hospitals across the state for victims, whether or not they have been sexually assaulted.