Extended Use Rohypnol is readily available in the states that line the Mexican border. Although the Mexican government officially regulates this drug, Mexican pharmacies commonly sell Rohypnol over the counter because Mexican medical regulation is not as exacting or stringent as U.S. regulation. In addition, Mexican physicians who customarily prescribe the drug for insomnia are often careless about doing so. This ready availability, from both inattentive pharmacies and careless doctors, allows people to acquire the drug in Mexico and smuggle it into the United States. Because Rohypnol is readily available, it has a popularly low retail price, ranging from one dollar to five dollars for each pill.
Sales can be very profitable.
A seller can buy a box containing 30 tablets for nine dollars outside the U.S. and then resell a single tablet for between one dollar and five dollars. This profit motivation encourages the smuggling of Rohypnol into the United States. The rise in the smuggling of Rohypnol is aided by the easing of border restrictions that decrease traditional custom searches at border checkpoints under the recently enacted North American Free Trade Agreement. It is also being used, however, by rapists to incapacitate their victims. Victims who are drugged with Rohypnol become dizzy and disoriented and have trouble moving their arms and legs.