Drink spiking is in the news: What is it and what can we do about it?
Thursday, 17 October, 2024.
Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Photo courtesy: Unsplash.
Drink spiking has attracted a bit of media attention lately, thanks to news investigations, high-profile cases and the loud condemnation of victims. Data suggests that drink spiking rates may be rising but the issue is also substantially underreported so it’s hard to know.
Most people who get drink spiked know they’ve been drink spiked, even if others don’t believe them. Women and queer men, who are usually the target, routinely face victim-blaming, which discourages reporting and can even lead to victims internalising the blame. Furthermore, it sometimes takes time to piece together what’s happened, by which point there’s no way to prove you were spiked. There’s a culture among Australian police of failing to take these kinds of allegations seriously and a long history of hostility towards queer communities.
If you have your drink spiked, however, it’s important to remember that it’s not your fault. It’s never your fault for enjoying a drink, wanting to go out late at night or on a Hinge date.
What is drink spiking?
Drink spiking happens when someone adds an intoxicating substance to your drink without your knowledge or consent. Sometimes this may be a prank by an irresponsible friend with a carefree attitude towards alcohol and drugs. But there are also times where the practice is intended to incapacitate someone, often for the purpose of stealing from them or sexually-assaulting them.
We generally associate drink spiking with ‘downer’ drugs such as GHB, ketamine and benzos but some predators use stimulants such as meth to encourage sexual excitement, and this latter category remains even more under-studied. One high profile case, recently before the courts, involved a Perth man allegedly spiking the drinks of women he found via dating apps with drugs such as meth and MDMA. Warning: you may not be able to taste or smell the difference with drugs like these. If you can, toss away the drink immediately!
Drink spiking also happens when someone adds extra alcohol to alcoholic drinks. If someone tops up a mixed drink or cocktail with extra shots of a spirit or pours vodka into a beer without you knowing, this is drink spiking. It’s worth noting here: date rape drugs don’t cause the majority of sexual assaults that occur while someone is incapacitated. Alcohol does. Moreover, you’re more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone you know than a stranger.
Drink spiking is not always done with the intent of committing another assault or stealing property, and it may seem harmless fun to some. Supposed friends may spike their mate’s drink with molly to help them ‘loosen up’, for example, or someone may think it’s funny to spike the birthday girl’s sparkling wine with a drop of acid from a dropper bottle. This is never ok. Some people choose not to take certain drugs. Even if that person used the drug extensively in the past, they may avoid that drug for a variety of serious reasons of they may just simply dislike the drug! Every person has their own unique drug journey and it’s impossible to know where someone else is at in that journey. Nobody should ever need to explain their choices to another.
There may be peer pressure to stay silent when a group of people want to spike someone “for a laugh” or because “they’ll love it”. But Tara Hunter, Director of Clinical and Client Services at Full Stop Australia, a sexual and domestic violence service, emphasises the importance of “active bystanders” who are willing to “call out this behaviour”.
Caitlin Dooley, people and event management specialist at Dancewize NSW, tells Users News “the scope of drink spiking has broadened and it has become a lot more insidious”.
She says it often involves “random assaults” and people trying to be “funny” rather than simply targeted sexual assault situations, as is often assumed. She also says it increasingly involves spiked vapes, not just spiked drinks.
Caitlin frequently works at music festivals with Dancewize staff and volunteers who provide peer support and drug education to punters. You’ll find them wearing purple high-vis vests in chill out zones or roaming through crowds.
“I would say men and women are being spiked in relatively equal numbers,” Caitlin continues. “This is perhaps an anomaly. In the past, it was often women who were specifically targeted and I think that is still true in nightclubs but it’s different at festivals.”
A 2004 report estimated that 4 out of 5 victims of drink spiking in Australia are women. Unfortunately, no one has collected data on a nationwide scale since the publication of that report 20 years ago.
What does it feel like when your drink gets spiked?
Drink spiking with alcohol or sedative drugs causes drowsiness, blackouts, memory loss and a loss of inhibition. You may need to vomit all of a sudden.
But drink spiking can take many forms and a powerful stimulant like meth will make you really alert, euphoric and possibly even abnormally horny.
The bottom line is: if you start to feel really cooked really quickly, and you’ve barely drunk anything or barely done any drugs, it’s possible you’ve had your drink spiked.
Drink spiking is a criminal offence in all Australian states and territories. Penalties include imprisonment, ranging from 2 to 25 years. So it’s worth reporting and it’ll also help authorities better understand the nuances and scale of the problem.
Our safety tips
If you or a friend is feeling unwell all of a sudden, go the nearest hospital emergency department immediately and ask them to test for the presence of drugs. Urine and blood tests can often detect drugs 24 or 48 hours after they first enter your body. You will not be penalised for seeking help. It doesn’t matter if your friend has drugs in their body from recreational use in the days prior to a possible drink spiking incident.
If you’re worried you may have been sexually assaulted from a drink spiking indecent, there are some support services and phonelines that may be able to offer advice:
1800 RESPECT: Call 1800 737 732 for confidential sexual assault and family and domestic violence counselling. This national phoneline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
NSW Sexual Violence Helpline (Full Stop Australia): Call 1800 424 017. This service provides 24/7 telephone and online trauma counselling for anyone in NSW whose life has been impacted by sexual violence, including survivors, as well as their friends, families and supporters.
Rainbow Sexual, Domestic and Family Violence Helpline (Full Stop Australia): Call 1800 497 212. This service provides 24/7 telephone trauma counselling from counsellors who have completed specialist training to support anyone in Australia who is from the LGBTIQ+ community and has experienced domestic, family or sexual violence.
There are also a few things you can do on an individual level to avoid harm:
Start low, go slow, even with drinks!
Don’t accept drinks from others and watch your drink being made, especially if it’s a more elaborate drink like a cocktail.
Don’t leave you drink unattended or with someone you don’t trust. Sexual assault statistics show that friends, partners and family members are not exempt from sexually abusing people close to them. So there’s no easy answer here. Even those we trust aren’t always trustworthy.
If you’re in a really crowded pub or club, you can rest your hand on top of your drink or place a coaster there to stop anyone putting anything in the beverage. Just make sure you note the exact position of the coaster if you go with this option. You can also buy drink caps online which work the same way. Some even look like scrunchies and hair ties and they’re super portable. You can stuff them in purses and handbags of all sizes.
Always tell your mates where you’re going. Let someone know which venue you’re drinking at. If you head to a stranger’s home, send the address to a trusted friend.
If a friend is acting really out of sorts on a night out, take them somewhere safe and consider seeking medical attention.
You can buy drink spiking tests and bring them with you on a date. It’s a good way to get an early indication of whether your drink has been spiked, and evidence can otherwise be hard to obtain.
What we really need is cultural change
For there to be real change, there needs to be cultural shifts on a national level, educational campaigns and media pressure on governments to intervene. We need to address the root causes by abolishing the boy’s club and the entitlement that men feel towards other people’s bodies. We need to end carefree attitudes towards drugs and alcohol and naivety around poly-drug use.
Tara Hunter from Full Stop Australia says, “we all need to take responsibility, whether we’re friends or working in a venue. We need to hold curiosity for others and their safety.”
“We need a more responsive system and better information out there,” she continues. “Where do they go for help and where do they go for tests? People need to know it’s a safe thing to do and they won’t be penalised for having substances identified in drug testing reports.”
Thanks to the efforts of What Were You Wearing? Australia, an Indigenous, youth-led, non-profit organisation fighting to end sexual violence in Australia, Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) courses in NSW have included drink spiking prevention training since last year. This is great news because these training courses are compulsory for everyone working in licensed venues. It means people working in bars, clubs and stadiums know what to look out for and it shifts the onus away from possible victims. It’s probably the most effective way to force change, especially when you consider the fact that two thirds of suspected drink spiking incidents in Australia happen in licensed premises.
Many advocates in this space want to see Australia’s festival and hospitality industries stock, advertise and support drink spiking tests, such as the one recently pioneered by SureScreen Australia. According to this vision, drink spiking tests will become a staple in the bartender arsenal, akin to a bottle opener or first aid kit, and visible messaging inside venues will advertise the availability of tests. It’s about venues taking a stand that they don’t tolerate predatory and sketchy behaviour. This will help create more inclusive nightlife spaces.
Drink spiking tests: A possible solution?
SureScreen Australia Director Troy Stewart wants to see Liquor and Gaming departments across the country go even further. He wants them to modify Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) courses so they include education about SureScreen Australia’s new drink spiking test.
“With incidents of drink spiking on the rise across Australia, the public deserves a safeguard solution,” he says. “People should have the option to request bar staff test their drink and the option to take immediate action if it tests positive for substances like GHB, ketamine or benzodiazepines.”
SureScreen Australia has recently pioneered a drink spiking test that checks for ketamine, benzos, GHB and GHB-like substances. According to Troy Stewart, the test involves “5 easy steps” and it’s akin to a rapid-antigen (RAT) COVID test. The test can detect date rape drugs to the microgram. In other words, it can effectively detect even the slightest trace of these drugs.
It’s not a fool proof test because it doesn’t account for spiked vapes and drugs such as ecstasy and ice, which are used to coax people into sex. Most importantly, it doesn’t address the broader issue of rape culture. As one columnist wrote for The Guardian in response to a nail polish drink spiking test that came out in 2014, “we should be trying to stop rape, not just individually avoid it.”
But it’s certainly a start. It’s also a preventative measure designed to shift the focus away from victims and towards the perpetrators. This shift is something advocates in the sexual violence space, such as Tara Hunter, also desire.
“We’ve gotten positive feedback from the nighttime industry,” Troy explains. “There are a group of very exclusive and well-known bars in Melbourne along Chapel Street and in St Kilda and the CBD that have all jumped on board.”
“The feedback we’re getting from industry, who have firsthand experience, is that drink spiking is a major concern and underreported. They want to run their own campaigns and not wait for government because they see a device like this also protects the venue.”
“They’ll be running posters to promote awareness around the tests. They’re also looking at getting staff to wear t shirts. They’re really moving the needle on the gage and setting the world’s first gold standard against drink spiking.”
This news is a breath of fresh air. Major players in Australia’s hospitality industry, such as Swillhouse, have recently attracted negative media attention for their alleged failure to create safe environments for female staff and customers. Any licensed venue that seeks to protect patrons, especially women, from drink spiking is likely to see a flow-on effect whereby female staff also receive better treatment. It’s a win win!
Challenging mainstream narratives: Stimulants as date rape drugs
Not much of the writing surrounding drink spiking accounts for the use of stimulants in drug-facilitated sexual assault. Currently, no drink spiking tests assess drinks for stimulants. But data suggests that amphetamines and coke are some of the biggest contributors to this problem. In most of the public discussion around drinks spiking, there’s a heavy focus on “downer” drugs, such as GHB, ket, roofies and benzos. We suspect the focus is skewed this way because the dominant (male-driven) narrative around sexual assault is still that rape usually occurs when someone is completely incapacitated. In reality, sexual assault is much more complex.
Stimulants make for a slightly more ‘murky’ example of sexual assault but this documented phenomenon is no less legitimate whatsoever than sexual assault involving a passed out, or borderline passed out, woman. This latter example – a woman unable to move and respond to sexual advances due to a sedative drug – is the more likely to grab news headlines. We all know the mainstream press adores a sensational story, which probably helps explain why advocacy has centred on the comatose woman, rather than the highly stimulated woman. It’s easier for the men to grasp because it fits a victim-woman model, as per the male gaze.
In a similar way, debates around drink spiking ignore the fact that opportunistic sexual advances on people who have drunk heavily, rather than pre-meditated spiking by a stranger, is the bigger problem.
Food for thought folks.