Warning: This story contains graphic details and allegations of sexual assault
Throughout the course of a months-long investigation, CTV’s W5 was able to purchase powerful drugs on public websites or through the Telegram messaging app, used by a global network of men who secretly abuse women.
The W5 team learned how to do so through a global network of men who drug, rape, videotape, sell and exchange videos of women being abused.
W5’s Senior Investigative Correspondent Avery Haines infiltrated this network over the period of months, posing as a man who wanted to drug and rape his wife.
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Throughout the course of the W5 investigation, Haines learned tips on how to do this herself from men around the world who teach each other what drugs to buy and use, how to make their own drugs, how to administer the drugs and how to get away with it after making women their unconscious “dolls.”
“I’m very proud of my doll and I’m going to use it to its fullest very soon,” one man told Haines in an email.
“You will learn from this and I also sell pills. Xanax, Ambien, Ghb, Sevoflurane,” another messaged her on Telegram.
A man who sells rape videos on a porn site also posts about the drugs you can buy from him and lists his Telegram handle to get in touch. After some messages back and forth, he offers Haines an entire menu of knockout drugs.
“I’ve got GHB…also various pills…lorazepam…Midazolam,” he messaged.
Haines was able to purchase GHB — the date rape drug — which arrived by mail as a solid bar of soap. W5 had the product tested and the results showed it was pure GHB.
The rape videos this man was selling were of a Canadian woman from New Brunswick. The content of her abuse by an ex-boyfriend has been circulating online for years within this global network.
Last November, the rapist of that woman was sentenced to 16 years in prison for crimes which included drugging, raping and filming her, along with abusing another ex-girlfriend and his wife, who has now filed for divorce.
In an exclusive interview with CTV’s W5, one of the man’s ex-girlfriends, whose name we are changing to Melanie due to a publication ban, said her rapist abused her for years without her ever knowing.
“I was always told be careful when you go out to the clubs. Don’t ever leave your drink around. Never what I have thought: ‘be careful of your partner,’” she said.
CTV News is also required to conceal the name of her rapist, due to a court ordered ban to protect his ex-wife’s identity.
Haines was also taught how to drug women by purchasing a cosmetic product on Amazon. The beauty product which W5 purchased online, is able to be turned into GHB. Following inquiries by W5, Amazon.ca has since removed the product from its site.
Powerful anesthetics and other medications are also offered for sale between men looking to sedate and violate their partners.
“I also carry desflurane, isoflurane, halothane, propofol, benzos, anesthesia masks, epidural tubes (ass shots)…” one man offered to another in messages obtained by W5.
One of the drugs offered, propofol, is a powerful anesthetic used by doctors to sedate patients before surgery. It is the same drug that killed Michael Jackson.
W5 was able to order a bottle of propofol online from a store based in Edmonton, Alta., called Linen Plus. No medical or business credentials were required, and the drug was delivered right to a W5 team member’s doorstep.
After making the purchase, W5 contacted Linen Plus’ head office in Edmonton to inquire about buying propofol from their site. A sales rep stated that while some credentials may be needed, selling the drug to the general public was legal.
Following a W5 query to Health Canada about the sale of propofol to a member of the general public without having to provide medical credentials, the regulator has now opened a compliance verification case for the Linen Plus website, stating that “...it is illegal to sell propofol to the general public.”
A lawyer for Linen Plus subsequently contacted W5 by email claiming that the order of propofol sold to us was the only one the site has ever completed, adding that the order was an “anomaly” and a “glitch” in the system. Linen Plus has since removed the drug from their website completely.
The day before W5’s documentary was scheduled to air, a second lawyer for Linen Plus emailed W5 that their site is compliant with Health Canada legislation:
“Linen Plus is a platform that allows other sellers to distribute their products to purchasers…The Linen Plus platform hosts over 220,000 unique products and operates under a system that requires each seller to accurately and appropriately label the items they offer for sale. Linen Plus’ platform prohibits sellers from listing prescription medications, such as the Drug, for sale. While Linen Plus takes reasonable measures to ensure that sellers properly label their listings, it remains the seller’s responsibility to accurately categorize their products. This framework is recognized and accepted by Health Canada and aligns with Linen Plus’ obligations under applicable legislation.”
‘Why are they not controlled?’
The ease at which these men, and as it turns out, the general public, can purchase these drugs is alarming to several medical experts W5 interviewed throughout the course of this investigation.
Coincidentally, the woman in New Brunswick, Melanie, whose ex-boyfriend raped and filmed her for years, is now married to a medical doctor.
W5 also interviewed him, whose name we are changing to Steve due to the publication ban. Steve says the accessibility of these powerful medications is horrifying.
“It’s a real concern because this is being used for very nefarious purposes,” he said.
Steve would like to see anesthetics, such as propofol, added to the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. This would require their usage and handling to have more oversight, monitoring and tracking to help prevent them being stolen, abused or used for criminal reasons.
“(E)ven long-acting sedatives that we sometimes use for palliative care, they’re not listed. Why are they not in the legislation? Why are they not controlled?” Steve asked. “These drugs are life threatening. You don’t give them properly or administer these drugs properly in a safe controlled way, people die.”
W5’s full documentary “Sleeping with the Enemy” that exposes a Canadian and alleged rapists around the world airs May 31 at 9 p.m. on CTV
