Spiking involves administering drugs or alcohol to another person, for example in their drink, without their knowledge or consent.
Spiking is a crime. The law states that:
it is a crime to maliciously administer, cause to administer or cause to be taken by any other person any poison or destructive or noxious thing, such as to endanger their life, cause them grievous bodily harm, or intentionally injure, aggrieve, or annoy them
More information about spiking and the law can be found here.
Substances can be administered using:
·Drugs (illegal or prescription) in pill or powder form – added to drinks or food or directly to an individual, including using needles
·Additional alcohol in alcoholic drinks
Spiking and Sexual Violence
Spiking someone in order to commit a sexual offence is a serious crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison – even if a sexual offence doesn't actually take place. If a sexual offence does take place, the person who carried it out will face an additional sentence.
Rohypnol (or Roofie) and Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) are the most known ‘date-rape’ drugs. Both drugs can be used to commit physical and sexual assaults as they can sedate or incapacitate a victim, making them more vulnerable to attack.
Spiking someone in order to rape or sexually assault them is sometimes called 'alcohol or drug-facilitated sexual assault'.
More information about spiking and sexual violence can be found here.
More information about sexual violence and support and reporting can be found here.
Symptoms and Impacts of Spiking
Drugs used to spike drinks are very difficult to detect as they are tasteless, colourless and odourless. Additional alcohol is also hard to detect in alcoholic drinks. The effects of drink spiking vary depending on what substance was used and if it is mixed with other substances, e.g., alcohol, recreational or prescription drugs.
The drugs used often make you feel sleepy, weak and reduce your ability to defend yourself. You may not be aware of what is going on around you or what is happening to you. Common Symptoms could include:
- Lowered inhibitions
- Loss of balance
- Feeling sleepy
- Dizziness
- Visual problems, for example, blurred vision
- Hallucinations (seeing things which are not there)
- Confusion, especially the next day or after waking up
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Unconsciousness
- Amnesia (loss of memory) especially about things that have happened recently.
Safety Precautions
Individuals who are spiked are not responsible for not being spiked, but there are actions that can be taken that reduce the risk of perpetration:
- Individuals can avoid spiking but not spiking others.
- Individuals can help reduce the risk of spiking by monitoring their and their friends’ drinks and not accepting drinks from others where you haven’t seen where it has come from.
- Licensed venues are required to take steps to ensure the safety of their customers.