Crackdown on dangerous ‘date rape’ drug
Clare Sibthorpe
Australian authorities are cracking down on a dangerous “date rape drug” which has been linked to sexual assaults and overdoses and is being hidden in beauty and food products.
The drug, 1,4-Butanediol, commonly known as “bute”, reduces feelings of pain by interrupting the way nerves signal pain between the brain and the body and can cause breathing difficulty. It naturally converts into the illegal gamma-hydroxybutyrate GHB, or liquid ecstasy, once ingested.
The most common ways officers saw the drug hidden was inside body oils, face masks, and food products.
Bute can be legally imported into Australia for legitimate industrial use by importers registered with the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme and is used in the production of plastics and polymers.
But, under the new laws that define bute as a border-controlled drug, importers who do not have a legal purpose for them face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The drug is illegal to possess in all states and territories.
AFP Eastern Commander Kate Ferry said bute is an industrial chemical used to produce plastics which can lead to “harrowing consequences”.
She said it is one of the main drivers of fatal and non-fatal GHB overdoses in Australia and is used in sexual assaults and the spiking of food and drink, particularly in nightclubs.
While she said this served as a reminder to people – especially young women – to watch their drinks while out at night, that shouldn’t have to be the case.
“Australian women are a little tired of being told of what to do to be safe for themselves,” Ferry said.
“What we’re saying is this is a whole of Australia problem, and we are targeting the people bringing it in before it even gets into Australia”.
Ferry said importers should be wary of on-selling large amounts of obscurely labelled goods and should report suspicious activity to Border Watch online.
ABF Acting Commander Asha Patwardhan said Border Force officers had seen individuals and criminal syndicates attempting to import bute in volumes of up to 40 litres per day.
“The misuse of this substance can prove fatal – and those in the community need to be aware of the dangers,” Patwardhan said.
“It is typically from the Asia market, with the majority from China. The substance is incredibly dangerous and may have deadly consequences for vulnerable teenagers and adults.”
ABF officers detected about 180 litres of bute imported to Australia from China, concealed in bottles labelled as body oil, on March 7.
Search warrants led by the AFP at businesses in the Sydney suburbs of Fairfield and Lidcombe led to the further seizure of more than 1000 litres of bute.
The ABF alerted the AFP to another detection of bute imported to Sydney from China on March 23, which was estimated to have 960 litres of the dangerous substance concealed in bottles of “essence oil”.
One importation of 660 litres of bute was seized in early May 2024, after the recipient alerted authorities they had become aware of the change in legislation and had received the drug late last year.
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