They are small, barely two milligrams a pill, but highly addictive as a depressant. Police said they have become popular among teenagers and young adults. Manufactured as Rohypnol by Hoffman-LaRoche, a pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland, the pill is illegal in the United States, but legal in 64 countries including Mexico. They are about 10 times more potent than Valium. Abraham Delgado, a Brownsville police officer who works with the narcotics unit.
Users feel euphoria, a pleasurable effect that they want to keep using.
Delgado said a lot of the pills seized in Brownsville are smuggled from Mexico. He said the pills are mainly used by teenagers and adults in their early 20s. Delgado said Rohypnol seizures have increased steadily since 1997. In 1997, police seized more than 1,800 pills. The number increased 4,107 in 1998 and so far this year, police have seized 1,628 pills, he said.