Spiking has been an issue for years but as of recent weeks, there has been a huge rise in reported cases up and down the country which has sparked a national outcry. Both women and men have begun to come forward and speak about their experiences.
Drink spiking is the most common form, where a substance is slipped into the victim’s drink without them knowing, resulting in them consuming the intoxicated drink, and the side effects include:
- Feeling drowsy or more “drunk” than expected
- Speech difficulties
- Breathing difficulties
- Nausea or vomiting
- Unconsciousness
However, there have also been a number of raised cases of spiking being carried out through the form of injecting somebody with a needle; using numbing cream to make sure the victim was unaware of the attack. This causes the same side effects as drink spiking but in Scotland there were reports of people contracting viruses such as HIV from the needle, which is a long-term health concern that they had to deal with.
In Plymouth, a high number of students, have been coming forward to report being spiked in well-known venues such as Pryzm, Fever and Boutique and Union Rooms. There have also been reports of bouncers and bar staff not being cooperative, which leads people to wonder who they can really trust when they go out.
When interviewed, one victim in particular told us about their experience in a club that they have chosen not to name, as well as wanting to keep themselves anonymous.
“I have absolutely no memory of half of the night when I got spiked. The last thing I remember is being stood at the bar with my friend, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in my bed. I have been told that I was dragged out by a man who attempted to put me into a taxi with three other men already in it. Luckily, someone I knew nearby saw this happening and managed to pull me away.
“My experience has definitely left me feeling more anxious when I go out, and I hesitate to drink as much as I normally would at the fear of losing consciousness again.”
“I want clubs such as the one that I was in, to be a lot more cautious to spiking. I want them to start doing thorough searches of everyone who comes in, for example. I know they have all advertised their drink-testing kits, which is great.”
We would also like to add that the manager at the above establishment is no longer there and has been replaced.
Clubs across Plymouth have been using their social media platforms to promote their drink-testing kits, their zero-tolerance approach to spiking as well as advertising schemes such as “Ask for Angela” where people are able to report feelings of insecurity or not feeling safe around who they are with, and staff members will immediately remove them from that situation. They also have posters up in their establishments to remind people of this when they are out.
The universities in Plymouth have come together to discuss the best practice for their Student Unions to ensure the safety of the students. Lauren Edwards, the Marjon Student Union president has provided information on how they are trying to implement safety measures.
“Marjon Student Union, University of Plymouth Student Union and Plymouth College of Art Student Union have all worked together on this over half term and before that. That’s been going really well.
“Obviously Marjon students use Plymouth University’s facilities quite a lot, so I had quite a vested interest in making sure that UPSU was just as safe as Barjon is. They’ve started doing bag searches and things like that, which I fully agree with so it’s positive seeing how quickly people have responded.
“At the start of the year, before any of this started happening, the local police came up [to Barjon] and I had a chat with them, with the bar license holder at Marjon and they gave us some drink testing kits so we’re officially a drink spiking testing venue.
“The way I see at the moment and I think a lot of bars in Plymouth have had really good responses to everything that’s happened. They’ve been really responsive, they’ve listened to our concerns so places like Pryzm for example, doing more intense bag searches, they have the metal detectors and things like that as well, which I think is really good.
There have been a number of posts circulating on how to know whether your drink has been spiked. The main visual indications are:
- When your ice sinks in your drink.
- When your drink goes foggier than it was before.
- When your drink changes colour.
- When there are more bubbles in your drink than before.
If you see any of these changes to your drink, immediately take your drink to a member of staff to be tested and stay with them, keep talking to them and that way if they begin to notice that you are deteriorating, they will take appropriate action to ensure you are safe.
With the number of reported cases increasing rapidly, there is a lot more awareness of spiking and therefore pubs and clubs will continue to put more measures in place to ensure the safety of their customers and if we all work together, we can try to put a stop to spiking.