Tag Archives: violence against women

USC Athlete Rape Incident is a Warning Against Marijuana Edibles

Marijuana Cookie Used in Alleged Rape Crime

Osa Masina, a USC football player who was suspended, is going to be tried for an alleged rape.  The trial is set to begin June 25.

The 19-year-old met up with a former classmate last summer, on July 25.   The Salt Lake Tribune describes the incident:

There, a night of partying — Bacardi rum, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and half of a marijuana cookie — left her feeling so intoxicated she says could not get out of a car on her own that night when she went with Masina and a group of his friends to get fast food, and she said she cannot recall how she got back inside the house.

She said the next thing she remembered after passing out was waking up with Masina raping her.

“It hurt. It was very painful,” she said, and though she said she felt “scared and helpless,” she tried to move her legs to stop him.

“Did you consent in any way to the sexual contact you’ve been describing?” the prosecutor asked.

“No,” the woman said.

The woman testified she passed out and awoke several more times throughout the night, each time to a different horror: She awoke to Masina forcing her to engage in oral sex so rough she could not breathe; she awoke unable to move from a couch and unable to reach someone to come help her; she awoke, wearing only a bra and a blanket, on the lawn of a neighboring home where she saw Masina’s car still parked outside and “that fear came over me again because I knew he was still in the house.”

Guys, as well as gals, should consider that marijuana use may lead to unwanted sex

Calling Out the Role of Marijuana is not “Victim Shaming”

The description of the rape is horrible.  The evidence suggests that the football player and the woman were abusing substances before the sexual activity occurred.  The law should not excuse this behavior towards a woman who has passed out.

Nine days earlier, Masina, her high school friend, had invited the victim to Los Angeles for a long weekend.   At that time, Masina, the woman and another football player, Max Hill, partied hard.  The victim took marijuana, two Xanax pills along with alcohol   The woman alleges that both Masina and Don Hill raped her.   Masina and Hill were suspended from the team, but a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles has been dismissed.

Alcohol can produce some pretty outrageous behaviors, but when alcohol mixes with marijuana or other drugs, extremes happen.    This case, the Stanford swimmer’s case and many others exemplify why we need to educate against intoxication.  It is not “victim shaming” to explain that the 19-year-old would not have passed out if she had did not eat half a marijuana cookie.  The effects of marijuana cookies happen about two hours after ingestion.

In 2014, the Vote No on 2 campaign in Florida warned about marijuana cookies and date rape.  This recent rape case involving a college football player should scrutinize the role of the marijuana -laced cookie .

Half of a cookie from Colorado, Washington or California could have as much as 50 milligrams of marijuana.  Levy Thamba jumped off a building to his death after eating a marijuana-laced cookie.  A few weeks later, Richard Kirk shot his wife after eating a marijuana candy and going crazy.

The marijuana industry in Colorado prevented a ballot supported by 80 % of the state which would have capped the strength of edibles.  (Failure to warn of the psychotic effects from these edibles is a disservice to both the victim and the accused.  Both were 19, below the legal age to buy marijuana cookies in any state.)

There is no mention of how and when Masina or the woman obtained the cookies.   Who bought or provided the cookie?  Was interstate drug trafficking involved?  Calling out substance abuse as a factor doesn’t excuse rape, but it warns of the conditions in which rape is most likely to occur.

No on 2 Predicted Correctly

In 2014, the Florida Vote No on 2 Campaign forecast that marijuana would become the new date-rape drug.  Journalists, respectable blogs and the marijuana industry laughed at the idea.  No on 2’s prediction was correct.  Let’s hope the prosecutor explores the role of the pot-laced cookie during the trial.  It should serve as a warning against this type of impairment.

States should pass laws to clarify consent for sexual activity in order to guard against rape and unwanted sex.  Equally important, educators need to inform about the role of substance abuse in domestic violence and rape.  Pedophiles often give marijuana to their victims.

Even groups concerned with violence against women remain in the dark.   Colleges don’t do enough to warn against drugs to avoid unwanted sex.  In fact, the United States is quite backwards compared to other countries in failing to see the connection.  Those who blame alcohol only, and not other drugs, are complicit in the denial.

date-rape
The incident happened off campus during the summer, but the defendant was suspended from his team last fall.  A sophomore, he was slated to be a starting linebacker for USC’s varsity team.