What is spiking?
Spiking is when additional alcohol or drugs is added to a persons drink without their knowledge or consent. A person's drink can be spiked to make them more vulnerable for variety of reasons, including theft, sexual assault or as an attempted joke.
What is the law on spiking?
Spiking itself carries up to 10 year prison sentence, which may be given on top of any additional crimes that are carried out. Even if the individual is not assaulted or attacked someone can still receive a 10 year prison sentence.
How to tell if someone has been spiked
Usually, someone that has been spiked will experience some of the following symptoms:
Lowered inhibitions
Extreme tiredness
Loss of balance
Difficulty in walking
Visual problems or hallucinations
Confusion or amnesia
Nausea or Vomiting
Paranoia
Unconsciousness
Symptoms can develop quickly, typically within 5 to 20 minutes, and can last for up to 12 hours. A person's reaction to a spiking will depend on the amount of the drug or alcohol used, how much they have drank, the medication they are on, and their body size and age.
What to do if someone has been spiked
Tell a bar manager, bouncer or member of staff or/and the police
Stay with them and keep talking to them
Call an ambulance if their condition deteriorates, they begin to feel extremely sleepy, vomit or have hallucinations
Don’t let them go home on their own.
Don’t let them leave the venue with someone you don’t know or trust
If possible, try and prevent them from drinking more alcohol as this could lead to more serious problems
Common methods of drink spiking
Adding additional shots of alcohol
Adding Rohypnol (colourless and tasteless)
Adding Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (colourless and tasteless)
Addition of recreational drugs such as Ecstasy, LSD and Ketamine.
Long-term effects of drink spiking
Leaves the individual unable to drink again
Feeling unsafe on nights out, or in social locations
Increased anxiety
Distrust of others around them
Potential to damage their health permanently
Reporting a spiking
If someone is in immediate danger or experiencing a strong physical reaction to a spiking as outlined above, call for an ambulance after medical attention has been provided ask for reporting options. Or you can request for police presence if someone is in danger. You can call the police on 101 to report the crime after it has happened. It is also worth informing the venue or location that it happened at. This can be done by informing staff on the night or calling the venue after the spiking has happened.
Ways to prevent drink spiking
Don't leave your drink unattended - keep it near you at all times.
Drink from the bottle instead of a glass.
Never accept a drink from somebody you do not know or trust.
You can buy covers for your drinks to protect your drink from being spiked.
There are also colour changing devices that can be put in drinks and will change colour if your drink is spiked (Google has many options).
Above all, if you are thinking about spiking somone's drink, just don't. Spiking doesn't just cause short term physical effects, but can also cause long-term effects on the individual who experiences it.
Sources:
Drink Aware (2021). Drink Spiking and date rape drugs. Drinkawre.co.uk. [Online]. Avaliable at: https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/staying-safe-while-drinking/drink-spiking-and-date-rape-drugs [Accessed 19th June 2021].
NHS. (2017). Drink Spiking, Information for Patients and public. NHS North Tees and Harlepool. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nth.nhs.uk/content/uploads/2017/07/AE2594-drink-spiking-july-2017.pdf [Accessed 19th June 2021].
Via @the.last.taboo on Instagram
What we want
Venues in St Andrews
Thorough and substantial policy to prevent spiking from taking place including:
Increased security within various venues including random bag searches on entry
Further training of staff to spot and intervene in potential spiking attempts
Source drink and urine testing kits for use by those who believe they have been spiked as well as used on unattended drinks
Additionally:
Thorough training for all members of staff on how to prevent spiking and what to do after an incident of spiking
Strong advertising campaign throughout the venue on the consequences of spiking for the victim and the perpetrator
Zero tolerance policy on those proven to have spiked, or attempted to spike, followed by a lifetime ban from the venue
We want all venues to implement the Campus Safety Society's St Andrews Collective Pledge. This involves:
Having the Ask For Angela Initiative in place (including basic training to make sure bar staff understand the procedure)
Having a QR code sticker that quickly links to our resource list
We will then share the venues who have signed up to the pledge on social media
Societies in St Andrews (sports clubs, social societies)
Zero-tolerance policy for any member caught attempting to spike or spiking which entails exclusion from the club, a lifetime ban of participation, and a referral to the University: Anyone proven to have been planning to or succeeded in spiking will be removed without fail; any membership they might have will be redacted; they will be removed and banned from any future events as well as being report to the University through the Report + Support system.
Thorough policy and commitment to safety around spiking including having a sober member present at all events and socials
Having all members be properly trained in bystander intervention and spiking awareness
Student groups in St Andrews (Fashion shows, DJ Collectives, balls)
Zero-tolerance policy for any attendee caught attempting to spike or spiking which entails exclusion from the club, a lifetime ban of participation, and a referral to the University. Anyone proven to have been planning to or succeeded in spiking will be removed without fail; any membership they might have will be redacted; they will be removed and banned from any future events as well as being report to the University through the Report + Support system.
Thorough training for all members of staff at events on how to prevent spiking and what to do after an incident of spiking
Ensuring members of staff have been given adequate training surrounding spiking and Ask for Angela
The UK and Scottish Governments
Emergency and sustained plan for combatting spiking
Increased pressure for higher conviction rates in incidents of sex and gender-based violence
Funding for test kits in all bars and venues
Fellow Students
Bystander intervention - calling out behaviour and creating an environment which is safe and inclusive for all
Reporting any incidents of suspected potential attempts to spike immediately
University and Union
Continue to show support and take action to prevent spiking from taking place
What you can do
We want everyone to participate in the “Big Night In” on Wednesday, October 27th. This entails:
No attendance of St Andrews venues, house parties, or socials
Attendance at our Town Hall event in the St Andrews Students' Association from 8-10pm
Attendance at the subsequent “Sit In” for solidarity in the Students' Association
Check out our Facebook event for more details.
Why are we targeting St Andrews venues?
The targeting of the Big Night In St Andrews is multifaceted, asking you to boycott venues, house parties, and socials. With spiking a symptom of larger problems of a patriarchal society, everybody has a responsibility to do more and do better to prevent this from taking place. The narrative must be changed from “don’t get spiked” to “don’t spike” and there are many ways different aspects of societies can change their behaviour to aid this, from institutions such as the governments to individual people including, and especially, venues where spiking is taking place.
Marginalised genders have an equal right to attend these venues and venues must be doing what they can to cater to making these spaces safe.
What can venues do?
Staff being adequately trained to handle welfare concerns and to spot issues of violence in their clubs, to spot roofying victims within their clubs, and to not cause harm to people who have been spiked like throwing them out on the street because they deem them “too drunk”.
With the nature of spiking changing with the horrendous rise of injection spiking and these venues need to prepare to address that.
While venues are not the ones spiking people, their inaction is allowing it to occur. Clubbing culture is often ridden with scary incidents, particularly for women, from casual sexual harassment to even scarier instances of roofying. Realistically, a boycott of the culprits is not possible. We cannot simply ask those doing the spiking to stop. Unless we pressure clubs to take action, action will not be taken and no change will occur.
A night of fun should not result in a hospital stay and these venues need to make sure they are doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening.
Why are we calling it a "Big Night In" rather than a "Girls' Night In?"
In boycotting clubs, St Andrews is joining a national movement known as “Girls’ Night In” which is taking a stand against roofying throughout the United Kingdom.
We personally made the decision to call our personal campaign “Big Night In” for two key reasons:
To emphasise the fact that while drink spiking predominantly impacts women, all gender identities are vulnerable to the phenomenon
To highlight the importance of ALL genders, not just women, participating in the boycott
We are greatly appreciative of the work other “Girls Night In” organisers have done. However, as St Andrews Feminist Society consistently aims to ensure all genders are represented in our feminism, we decided the name “Big Night In” better fits our aims.
Why are we calling for a 'Night In' rather than a pub boycott?
Several national Girls Night In campaigns have been promoting house parties as an alternative to clubs on the evening of the Night In. However, we wanted to tailor this Big Night In to St Andrews specifically, which is unique in comparison to other University towns and cities, notably due to its lack of nightclubs. This lack of night clubs means that spiking can and does happen in several other settings. And this is why we want to include the ‘boycotting’, per se, of house parties and socials as well as all venues around town — this means not hosting or attending a large alcoholic social gathering of any kind on the 27th October.
We want to raise awareness of the severity of drink spiking, and in order to do so, we must make clear that it can occur at any kind of event, be that a sports social, a ball, or a house party and this is particularly true of St Andrews. This is a Night In, rather than an active boycott as such. We know that venues are not themselves doing the spiking in the first place — spiking is part of a much wider societal problem.
Having said this, we believe venues have the ability to put safety measures in place, and to provide their staff with relevant training, to ensure that cases of drink spiking are prevented, and that, if they do occur, they are dealt with as quickly and safely as possible. We also want to encourage active bystander intervention in any social setting. This is a serious issue of safety, and by involving venues, events and societies of all kinds, we hope to communicate the gravity and urgency of the issue.
By asking you to attend our sit-in rather than a venue or house party the night of the 27th, we want to send a clear message to various venues, student groups, the government, and the University — we would like significant and relevant action taken against spiking.