As police investigate the theft of a drug sometimes used for date rape from a Halifax hospital, a woman who believes she may have been date-raped is sharing her story.

Jenny says she was recently out with friends and remembers leaving the group at some point that night, but her memory is fuzzy after that.

“I had gone into a bar that’s right around the corner from my house to have a beer before I ended the night, and that was the last thing I remember,” she says.

The next morning, she was confused and noticed several items were missing from her apartment.

She believes she may have been drugged and sexually assaulted, but has no idea who her attacker might have been. CTV News has agreed to conceal her full identity because she still fears for her safety.

“I didn’t think it would ever happen to me,” she says. “When I woke up, my underwear were gone and I was fully dressed.”

Adding to her suspicions, she says a strange message was posted to her social media page in the middle of the night.

“It basically says because I’m a slut, bad things happen, sorry mom.”

Jenny says the incident happened after 16 vials of Midazolam were stolen from the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre earlier this month.

Police issued a warning on Thursday, alerting the public to the theft and asking citizens to be extra cautious when drinking in public.

Investigators were contacted by hospital officials on August 14 after a number of vials disappeared from crash carts on various floors of the hospital. They say the vials of Midazolam are believed to have been stolen from the hospital since the beginning of August, although police were only informed of the thefts last week.

Midazolam is a type of Benzodiazepine drug that is commonly used for inducing sedation before medical procedures, but it can be dangerous if used inappropriately. It is water soluble, odourless, tasteless and colourless, and police say it is sometimes used as a date rape drug.

“We use it a lot, say, somebody’s coming to the operating room and they’re a little bit anxious, we might give them some Midazolam to reduce that anxiety,” says anesthesiologist Dr. Janice Chisholm.

Health officials say anyone who walked by the crash carts could have taken the drugs, but they say the drugs need to be on the carts to facilitate speed of access.

“Given that they’re based on best practice, that has to be the prevailing view, what are you going to need for the patient?” says Catherine Gaulton of the Capital District Health Authority. “That is always balanced with what is appropriately that accessible.”

At this point, neither Capital Health nor police know who took the drugs or why.

They are especially concerned given the timing of the thefts; thousands of university students will be moving into the city over the next few weeks.

“The timing couldn’t be worse,” says Margaret Murphy, the vice-president of external affairs at Saint Mary’s University.

SMU is posting police bulletins to inform students of the thefts and the issue will also discussed with students during Welcome Week.

“We’ll be bringing this up as an example that this is real, it’s a threat, it’s out there,” says Murphy.

Susan Wilson, a sexual health nurse at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, says 20 to 40 per cent of the people she sees who have been sexually assaulted have also been drugged. She also says date rape is underreported.

“Because they don’t have the full story, all the details, and so there’s some missing details and so they often don’t want to, they’re more reluctant to report,” says Wilson.

Jenny did call the police and paramedics, but by the time she realized she may have been drugged and sexually assaulted, it was too late to confirm anything with a blood test.

Now, she wants to warn others about the dangers of a date-rape drug that could be on the streets of Halifax.

“I’m terrified that it could actually happen to someone else…I think it’s important for people to be aware, protect themselves.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell