... to wonder how prevalent "spiking" really is?

[SeptemberGurl]

There's been a few reported incidents this term already at the Uni where my DD2 is studying. She is in her final year, and over the past years she's told me about two suspected incidences with her close friendship group.

I wish there were some better data on this. Is it really that common?

It is largely an urban legend, at least as it’s reported- there aren’t men doing sleight-of-hand tricks with GHB vials and strangers’ drinks. It just doesn’t make sense- the woman in question is far more likely to leave with her friends before you can get her alone. You’d have to spike 20 drinks before you counted one success if you were lucky.

What actually happens is that young people get drunk and fucked up voluntarily and get freaked out and decide they must have been spiked. The statistics bear this out- virtually every person who is tested for a suspected spike ends up positive only for alcohol and/or drugs they took voluntarily. If the worst happens and they are assaulted, it’s because a predator, usually someone they know, noticed that the victim was legless and made sure to take advantage of the situation. Or they encouraged the victim to drink more or to do one more line or they bought the victim doubles and told them it was singles. The key here though is that it involves substances taken voluntarily - not unknown drugs snuck into drinks by strangers. That narrative doesn’t help anyone- it just distracts from the real danger, which is that women are assaulted by men they know and trust.

Trigger warning:

It happened to me in magaluf in 2017. I’d had one drink, second was bought by a guy. I remember maybe 20 minutes after that and I woke up multiple hours later to him anally raping me after vaginally raping me. That’s how I lost my virginity.

I don’t drink now.

Hello use it absolute Isn’t an urban legend, and spreading such bull shit it harmful.

@CantRememberHoliday I’m so sorry this happened to you. I hope you have support

@AutumnLeaves21
Thank you, I had a thread about it at the time under this name and my friends actually knew he’d spiked me. I’m 23 now, rather than 18, and I ditched the friends along with the drink.

I don’t think I ever would have recovered from it without mumsnet though. I was so lost and a young 18 in many ways. No one in real life knows except my partner as I didn’t agree to any investigations

I remember your thread @CantRememberHoliday. So sorry that happened to you glad mumsnet was able to help you in some way

It seems to be prevalent in my dd's university town unfortunately. She and her friends are reluctant to go out to clubs and busy bars now, as they all know people who have been spiked, some non-drinkers too. It almost sounds like it's organised, not just individual chancers.

I have connections to Sheffield & Mansfield, both have had both kinds of spiking in the last month.

How can one poster say it's an urban myth! My daughter has the injection mark to prove it. So sorry for the other poster who was raped.

I am 45 years old and I was spiked 2 weeks ago. I go and meet my friends regularly a ten minute train ride away. I do this probably once a month and dont think about my safety.
Last time I did it I came home in such a terrible state my husband was incredulous. I cant recall 2 hours of my evening. An 'old friend ' from my teenage years took me home in a cab. Sadly I think it could have been him that spiked my drink. I think he got cold feet and took me home.

It’s extremely common. I think people assume spiking is drugs and then some form of assault but a lot of people just do it for the power.

The real myth is that it must be GHB or rohypnol for it to "count".

The majority of cases will be opiates (codeine and morphine), amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine or extra /hidden alcohol in a drink.

I think it’s much, more common than is reported. I had my drink spiked at uni and didn’t even think about going to the police.

Two girls were spiked in a local club last weekend and had the injection sites to prove it. It wasn’t rohypnol is was bloody methodone! The police have confirmed it happened.

Before this came to prominence people just wouldn’t have known they’d been injected because you can remember fuck all when you come round. I dread to think how many times it’s happened.

And it’s not always about raping people once their out cold. It’s often about getting a sexual kick from the act of injecting someone in itself. I think it’s a bit like flashing in that respect.

To say 'its an urban legend' really is dangerous. It happened to me in my teenage years (once), in my twenties (once) and now in my 40s. I am very streetwise and I go out a lot. What happened to me last month has really rocked my confidence. It has really upset me. I know what my limits are and I was out of my skull for absolutely no reason.

Calling spiking an urban legend when statistics are literally out there for you to read? Good one.

@Loveduvetdays

My daughter is at Uni and got spiked injected 2 weeks ago. She collapsed and went straight to hospital. They found the injection mark and is now going through the process of having lots of tests and jabs because of needle risk. It's absolutely horrifying. No idea why they do it. She was with friends who were brilliant and looked after her. I now can't stop worrying about her every time she goes out.

Can you tell us where the injection mark was, it would be good to share this information to see if there is a pattern

I was spiked as an adult 2 years ago. I have never felt so ill. I should have known better than to put my drink down. Learned a hard lesson.

Just to counter one or two posts above, rohypnol is indeed very unusual, but GBL or GHB (essentially the same drug) are not, and are both cheap as chips. They can be bought in bulk in 1 litre bottles for around £100 (GBL has practical industrial uses) and alternatively are readily available from many ordinary dealers too in smaller amounts. 2ml would be enough to make someone very woozy, not dissimilar from excess alcohol. 3ml would cause them to pass out and be absolutely unrousable (literally comatose) for around three hours. They pass through the body very rapidly, and are almost never tested for anyway, even in post mortem toxicology tests. There are no reliable statistics for unlawful administration of, or death by, these drugs.

Most of my friends and I have experienced what we think is having our drinks spiked this was common in clubs in the late 90/early 00

Mine was when I was about 17 so 30 years ago. Was at a friend of a friends house the guy was much older (in his 50’s) we used to hand around his and thought he was just a nice guy who liked to have lots of people around. I had an orange juice and soon after felt really tired he told me to go and lie down. I did then could hardly move every thing was confusing then I don’t remember until a few hours later my friend trying to wake me up. I don’t know what happened but I know I was drugged. My friends have experienced similar some know they were assaulted

At that horrendous crush in Houston last night they’ve reported one of the bouncers collapsed unconscious after feeling a pinprick in his neck.

It is absolutely not an urban myth. The person that drugged me actually admitted it years later.

There are posters with absolutely zero proof or expertise, stating that it’s not that prevalent and just people explaining drinking too much. That’s partly why people (mostly women) are reluctant to come forward in sexual assault cases.

@Hilarias

At that horrendous crush in Houston last night they’ve reported one of the bouncers collapsed unconscious after feeling a pinprick in his neck.

Very concerning reports indeed, and emergency services now believe it was multiple cases of needling, possibly with an opiate or similar.

www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/music-festivals/police-confirm-victims-may-have-been-injected-with-drugs-at-astroworld-crowd-surge/news-story/5756151b03d8437fe289de8ed5ee6d37

This was a thing when I was going clubbing 29 years ago and loads of people, friends or friends of friends claim to have been spiked , but honesty? Given that they just seem off their faces on booze and some class A drugs and nothing happened other than they lost their keys, wallets coats whatever but still made it home fine and then felt like crap the next day I think that many people who claim they ‘must’ have had their drinks spiked just got wrecked themselves.
Not saying it doesn’t happened ever I’m just saying that if it happened as often as some of our Uni friends claimed then it would have been an absolute crisis .
Not sure about the needle thing either - but there’s other threads on MN about that if you want to find out how likely that is.
I do still it’s much easier for predators to target very drunk girls, or men, who get separated from their pack than to start injecting people unnoticed in crowded bars or clubs.