The incident at Ross-on-Wye, near Hereford, three weeks ago, is believed to have been the first at which police have used the spray - introduced for personal protection - in a public-order situation. The police deny it was used indiscriminately and say it was for their officers' personal protection and safety. Two demonstrators say they will sue Hereford and Worcester police for alleged assault. Lawyers acting for protesters injured when police cleared an animal- rights rally have made formal complaints over the action, including the alleged indiscriminate use of the controversial CS spray. It is suspected in a further 200 cases.The tablets are used with alcohol, for coming off a cocaine high, and as a substitute for heroin, and are said to be popular in schools as a party drug.In March Florida introduced a bill making Rohypnol an illegal substance on a par with heroin, with life sentences for major traffickers.Since 1995, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has seized 225,000 doses of the drug in Florida.Prosecutors say it is difficult bringing cases because victims "don't remember a thing"..

The Miami Poison Unit has 100 recorded cases of rape where Rohypnol was used. But we have no evidence of any similar misuse of the drug in London."The woman said she was bought a drink by a man with a Scottish accent. She told police the last thing she remembered before waking up at home was that she felt faint half an hour after taking the drink.Mr Macauley said: "It would [be] very hard to prove any case of the drug being used. It goes through the system extremely quickly so by the time any toxicology tests could be done it's unlikely there would be any traces in the bloodstream."Scotland Against Drugs, a part-government, part-private industry-funded organisation, is seeking to raise awareness among young people of the dangers presented by Rohypnol and another commonly abused anaesthetic, Kitamine, which was identified as a "date-rape" pill in the US in 1979.Women looking to buy ecstasy in Scottish night-clubs and pubs have been deliberately sold Kitamine instead, said Dr Macauley.Rohypnol is available on prescription in 64 countries but is banned in the United States where it has gained widespread notoriety as a the "date-rape pill".So well-known are its properties that it featured in an episode of the hit hospital series ER, screened in the UK last week, in which a nurse was raped after she was given the drug unwittingly.Florida has been the centre of the US battle over the drug, where a "roofie", as a tablet of Rohypnol is called, costs as little as $1.50. When she wakes up she knows little or nothing about it."Last week, a report by a woman that her drink was spiked with an unknown substance in Soho, central London, prompted Scotland Yard to issue a warning to women to beware of the possibility that strangers may try to spike their drinks.A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: "We are aware of reports of Rohypnol's use in the United States. Rohypnol is here," said David Macauley of the Glasgow-based campaign group Scotland Against Drugs."If you had to compose the requirements for a date-rape drug then Rohypnol is as close as you can get," he said."It can work within 20 minutes... The drug, Rohypnol, is available on private prescription in the UK for back pain and insomnia and is also used as a pre-surgery anaesthetic.

It is 10 times more powerful than Valium. But if the drug is taken unsupervised, particularly in combination with social drugs or alcohol, it has the more sinister effect of making the victim vulnerable to rape."I have had reports of it being misused in this country and used as a date-rape drug There have been police seizures of it in Scotland. "But I cannot see how it is in the public interest for footage like this to be seen.". "It would obviously need to be balanced by a public interest defence," he says. "In any case, I felt reassured that having asked the cameraman who he was and realised they were a commercial rather than a police crew, the police had told me the film wouldn't be used."She was also concerned that the man who mugged her, who had her address from her handbag, might see the footage and return. She feels the onus should have been on the TV company to contact her for her permission rather than for her to have to track down the television company and ask them not to show it. "In a society where there are no longer many ways to participate, programmes like this can make them feel part of something." Yvonne's 50 seconds of fame appeared in a 15-minute "special operations" section of Crime Month, made by LWT, which follows different police departments carrying out their duties.A spokeswoman for LWT said their film crew and reporter had identified themselves to Yvonne. "Following strict guidelines, our reporter made himself known to her and explained he was from LWT," she says.