The 2023 Legislature passed a bill criminalizing the use of three common ‘date rape’ drugs in response to college students’ concerns. Now that the school year is starting back up, legal officials in the state say the law hasn’t changed the legal landscape surrounding these crimes.
House Bill 457 created a new misdemeanor assault charge for someone who uses any of the three most common ‘date rape’ drugs on another without their consent. Democratic Rep. Alice Buckley, D-Bozeman, sponsored the bill, which passed with almost unanimous bipartisan support.
Matt Jennings is the Missoula County Attorney. He said the law brings attention to a serious issue, but, if he can prove a crime like this happened beyond a reasonable doubt, he’s most likely pursuing more serious charges instead.
“These are drugs that are used to perpetuate sexual violence, usually against women, and so we're often looking at attempted sexual intercourse without consent, sexual intercourse without consent, sex assault-- even criminal endangerment, criminal distribution of dangerous drugs,” Jennings said.
According to Jennings, finding a more effective way to prosecute these cases can be complicated. He said mandatory testing for date rape drugs at the state crime lab could be a good start.
“I think that would give us a lot of data over time about whether people have these drugs in their system,” Jennings said.
According to Chase Scheuer, press secretary for Montana’s Attorney General, nobody has been charged under the law since it was enacted.
