Government stats show since the start of this year there has been an increase in reports of spiking in the UK despite the fact awareness of spiking campaigns have increased. Crime Stoppers have warned students, “always keep your drinks in view and avoid accepting vapes from strangers to prevent any tampering or spiking” as the National Police Chiefs Council saw an increase of spiking during ‘freshers’ week’ where many students attended clubs and bars. This was particularly evident in Plymouth as Devon and Cornwall posted on their Instagram page “we ask for the public to be vigilant” reaching out to people across the county as they had an influx of spiking reports late October.
Since then, clubs across Plymouth have become more aware of spiking, Fever posted on Instagram “we want to reassure you of all the positive measures that we have in place and use every day”.
The club has even come up with some solutions of trying to prevent spiking “we have drink covers available over at the bars at all times, free of charge.” This is a promising step in the right direction as Stamp Out Spiking 2024 victim survey found that 84% of spiking cases were through drink spiking.
However, the Charity also says that other methods of spiking, including needles are much harder to prevent. Other clubs such as Revolution have put in measures to protect younger people such as changing their age restriction to 21+ from 10pm on Saturday nights.
Preventative methods may be useful but reporting spiking incidents remains a problem as Stamp out Spiking reported that over this time of year, they have “not seen a fall in suspected incidents despite a decrease in the number of being officially reported” which highlights the fact that people are not coming forward with their experiences of spiking. Devon and Cornwall police have put on their website a page for support for victims and witnesses giving links to support to support centers.
Worryingly, government stats show 74% of victims are females, “It’s made me feel very nervous about going out, especially with the fact girls are being spiked with needles, so I always make sure I’m always in a group.” said Sarah* 19-year-old from Marjon university. “I feel most girls knows someone whose it happened to if it’s not happened to themselves which is so depressing.” she continued to say, “no one should have the fear that leaving your drink unattended for a second could lead to something so horrific, it’s just not fair.”
*Not her real name