How to find out if your drink has been spiked and what to do

Piece by: Leah Mutimba
Lifestyle

It is incredibly hard to tell if your drink has been spiked, and this leaves people open to risk as often the symptoms can be put down to drinking too much. If you have experienced this before then you must be prompted to look into how you can avoid this, and what you can actually do in this situation if you’re not around people you trust.

Here are some ways of recognizing the signs of spiking on a night out with some coping strategies so that you know how to help yourself.There are some obvious tips, like not leaving your drink unattended, and not taking drinks from strangers, but some of the other tips may help too:

  • If your drink has been spiked with alcohol then it can be fairly easy to tell, as the drink tastes different. However if you have too much to drink, this may at times be a bit tricky to tell.
  • Avoid mixed drinks, like pitchers or cocktails, as bottled drinks have less chance of being tampered with.
  • Even just knowing how you’re going to get home could help, i.e. make sure your phone has enough charge so you can order your uber home.
  • Avoid turning up to a bar steaming drunk or having your valuables on show as this can definitely increase your risk of having your drink spiked. Not displaying these behaviors is a good way of avoiding being spiked.

So just in case you live your drink unattended to then it's spiked, it takes 15 to 30 minutes for the drug to be effective.

However some of the symptoms you will start experiencing are problems with speech, vision or movement, confusion, paranoia, memory loss or even hallucinations. There are also testing kits that will tell you if your drink has been spiked, but let's be real who is going to take them out with them?

Unfortunately, most of these are also symptoms of being drunk, but most people know their limits and can sense when something has gone wrong. So experiencing any of these to a heightened level is a clear indicator that you’ve been drugged.

It's advisable to let a friend know where you are hanging out so that in case something goes wrong then they can trace you back to your last conversation. Also make friends with a bartender you trust and giving them tips here and them will always help them make sure you are safe, this however means you hanging out in a club you're well known especially when you feel vulnerable after taking too many drinks.

Most drugs leave your system within 72 hours, so getting help at the time could really help you in the long run.

Don't think this is all really obvious, because it can happen to anyone especially if you meet a stranger at a club and they offer to buy you a drink, just be more careful before you accept it thinking they're sweet. Drink spiking is a scary and very dangerous thing to happen to someone, and in reality should not be happening at all. It's hard to detect, and to prosecute, so unfortunately it's up to the individual to try and look after themselves, and to know the signs.