New law bolsters Montana’s “Date Rape” drug policy

So-called “date-rape drugs” are commonly slipped into someone’s drink without them knowing prior to a sexual assault. In the past, drugging someone wasn’t considered assault on its own. A new law that went into effect this month changes that.

The change to Montana’s assault laws was a rare point of near-unanimous bipartisanship in Montana’s 2023 Legislative Session. The policy targets offenders who drug someone with one of three chemicals often used to incapacitate a victim prior to a physical or sexual assault.