Examining Bill Cosby's testimony about quaaludes

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Jurors at Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial on Wednesday heard his damaging testimony about giving a sedative to women before sex. Cosby, who was deposed in 2005 and 2006 as part of his chief accuser's civil suit, was asked about quaaludes, a 1970s party drug that's been banned in the U.S. since 1982.

Prosecutors are using his answers to show he had a history of drugging women long before he met Andrea Constand, who accuses the comedian of knocking her out with pills and then sexually assaulting her at his home in 2004. He says he gave her a cold and allergy medicine -- not quaaludes -- and that their encounter was consensual.

A detective read to the jury a transcript of old testimony in which Cosby answers questions from Constand's lawyer about quaaludes. Here's a partial transcript:

Q: Why didn't you ever take the quaaludes?

A: Because I used them.

Q: For what?

A: The same as a person would say, "Have a drink."

Q: You gave them to other people?

A: Yes.

Q: Did you believe at that time that it was illegal for you to dispense those drugs?

A: Yes.

Q: How did (the doctor) know that you didn't plan to use (them)?

A: What was happening at that time was that, that was, quaaludes happen to be the drug that kids, young people were using to party with and there were times when I wanted to have them just in case.

Q: When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?

A. Yes.

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