Drug companies who make date-rape drugs could be sued by assault victims, according an Australian legal expert.
Mr Eugene Arocca, a senior lawyer in Melbourne and an American trial lawyer, says pharmaceutical firms may be held liable in the same way as tobacco companies have been found liable for causing cancer.
Drug companies have dismissed the suggestion as "ridiculous".
A recent report in the Britain said there were more than 1,100 date rape drug assaults last year alone.
Mr Arocca says US lawyers are thinking of action against companies who make 'date-rape' drugs.
"Fifty years ago they didn't put warnings on the product, they're now coming out with all sorts of warnings and restrictions," he told The Agenewspaper.
"What the drug companies are leaving themselves open to ... when they know that a particular drug is being used as a date-rape drug, they're not taking enough precautions to warn doctors about the prescription of the drug ... and therefore they can be seen to be accepting responsibility for the product rather than for the process," he said.
But Mr Fred Nadjarian, managing director of drug firm Roche which manufactures Rohypnol - a sleeping pill that has been used in date rapes - described the idea as "bloody ridiculous".
"If you make a kitchen knife and it's used to stab someone, what are you going to do - sue Sheffield? It's just ridiculous," he said.