Let's talk about drink spiking

Source - Unsplash @mossphotography  

Drink spiking. It’s become way too common and it’s something which people are seeming to normalise. It’s scary that people have to worry about it so much when going out for a good time. Freshers is just around the corner, and with the pandemic, many of us haven’t been on a night out before. It’s important that we’re all aware of how easy it can be for people to spike drinks and what we can do to avoid it.

 

What exactly is drink spiking? It’s mostly known as putting illegal substances such as ketamine and rohypnol into people’s food or drink without them knowing. It can also involve secretly putting alcohol into non-alcoholic drinks, or adding more alcohol than wanted to an alcoholic drink. People do it for many reasons such as intent to sexually assault, for robbery and even just for fun. The maximum sentence for spiking is 10 years imprisonment, and if it was for the purpose of committing a serious crime such as assault, then more serious charges can be given.

 

Alcohol.org did a survey with 969 people and discovered that 44% of men and 56% of women had their drinks unknowingly spiked. Out of those people, 37% had been spiked multiple times. These statistics go to show the extent of how often people get spiked, male and female.

 

Recently Millie Taplin’s story went viral after her mum posted a video of her after she was spiked on a night out. Millie, age 18, suffered from seizures following being spiked which caused her to be rushed to hospital. Lots of people aren’t educated on the horrific effects that spiking can have on people. Some effects can include; feeling drunker than expected, memory loss, loss of consciousness, nausea and vomiting and breathing problems.

 

My friend Will Daniels recently got spiked whilst on a night out. He said, “I don’t remember much from the night. I went to A&E the next morning and I was very scared because I don’t know what I did the night before.” He added, “lots of people assume that people only spike other people to sexually assault them but people do it to steal from them, or just do it for fun.”

 

Another friend, Kathryn Lowe had her drink spiked and described, “I had only had two or three drinks and suddenly it felt like the whole world had changed. I started feeling dizzy so I ran the best I could out of the club down the stairs and before I knew it, I threw up which I never do, even after my normal 10+ drinks. I couldn’t stop violently throwing up and that’s one of the last things I remember seeing.”

 

How can drink spiking be reduced? It’s difficult because drugs can be snuck into clubs so easily. It should be something however that security guards really need to keep their eyes peeled for. Although stopping drink spiking can be hard, educating people on how serious drink spiking can be, and making sure people know how to stay safe are two things we can do. Never leaving your drinks unattended, never trying other people’s drinks, and not accepting drinks from strangers are a few ways of staying safe. Keeping your drinks covered and checking for changes in your drink are also smart things to do.

 

Another key thing to do is not to leave your friends alone. Don’t leave or let your friends leave with anyone you or they wouldn’t trust. Sticking together and looking after each other means extra eyes looking out for anything unusual.

 

Not being in control of your own body because of someone else is a terrifying feeling. Let’s keep each other safe.

This article was published in Farid the Zine page 52 (25/10/21)