Following numerous reports of girls’ drinks being spiked in nightclubs and venues across the country, the problem of drink spiking and predatory behaviour in nightclubs is an urgent and alarming issue.
An independent investigation carried out by the BBC Radio 5 Live Investigations Unit found that between 2015-2019 there were 2,650 reports of drink spiking in England and Wales.
Seventy-two per cent of the victims were women and 10 per cent were under 18.
However, official statistics reporting the extent of this crime are still missing and many instances remained unreported.
What is evident from social media and online student groups is that drink spiking is still a widespread issue.
Kate, 20, a student at Nottingham Trent University, shared her experience of being spiked at Rock City, a popular venue among students.
She said: “I started feeling woozy but did not think anything of it as I get poorly often.
“Me and my friends went into the loos when I then passed out.
“I somehow got to a loo and was freaking out.
“I was not able to really move.”
She also said that she saw someone recording her on their phone but that she did not have any recollection of what happened after or how she got back home.
“The next thing I know I wake up in my bed with little knowledge of how I got back”, she continued.
Kate submitted an online report to Nottinghamshire Police who are yet to respond to her.
She also contacted Rock City via their Instagram page, which told her to send them an email.
She thinks her spiking was a “sleight of hand sort of thing”
She said nobody approached her or offered her a drink.
Another NTU student, who prefered to remain anonymous, said she was spiked at Rock City in 2019.
At the venue, she lost her friends when someone approached her and offered her a drink.
After that, she had no recollection of what happened.
The student said: “I woke up the next morning, not fully clothed but in my own bed, things were smashed in my room, my friends said I sent them videos looking like I’d taken something, but I had no memory.
“I just did not feel myself.”
The student also thinks that this is not an isolated incident and that other girls had a similar experience.
She said: “I know a few girls who have had similar experiences but who were lucky enough to find friends or people they know before anything too bad happening.”
She also thinks that she did not see the point in reporting the incident and that she feels disheartened by the system.
To find out more about drink spiking and how to prevent it, as well as some of the symptoms that it might cause, check out our drink spiking guide.
Rock City has been approached for comment.
Lead image: Rucsandra Moldoveanu