Still, though, this is the very least of our losses.

False memories and false alarms in perceived druggings, triggered by suggestions on the part of the media, the police, and the rest of society, hover around a rate of 40%. A federal law has been passed without scientific justification, and without significant dissent. A jury has convicted two men of rape without any evidence other than the mention of the term "date rape drug." The State has charged a man with murder for providing GHB to a willing recipient.

Suddenly Salem's witch trials do not seem so distant. And now, as it was then, the only true "imminent hazard to public safety" would appear to be the public itself.

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