Drink Spiking Report

Background

Drink spiking, the act of introducing drugs or substances, including alcohol, into beverages or food to incapacitate individuals for various malicious purposes, including sexual assaults, theft, pranks, or abuse, has become a concerning societal issue. In the UK, reports of increased incidents of drink spiking, particularly in house parties, as well as cases of 'needling,' a relatively new phenomenon emerging since 2021, have gained attention.

Methodology

In response to this pressing social and scientific challenge, our investigation delved into following five critical dimensions:

Study 1
Two national surveys (Drinkaware Monitor 2022 and 2023) on the
prevalence of drink spiking/needling, as collected from self-reported
incidents, encompassing individuals' perceptions, personal experiences,
the subsequent impact, and their inclination towards reporting such
occurrences to authorities or others and reasons behind their decisions
of reporting or not.

Study 2
Examination of initiatives implemented by various establishments and
venues to combat drink spiking/needling.

Study 3
Evaluation of the efficacy of commercially available drink testing kits.

Study 4
Analysis of drinks collected from night-time venues using drink testing
kits and Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).

Study 5
Analysis of urine samples obtained from Cambridgeshire Constabulary
using two methods, firstly by using commercially available presumptive
testing methods, followed by GC-MS confirmation of results. 

Key Findings

Prevalence:
In 2023 2.2% of UK adult reported having their drinks spiked in the 12 months leading up to the survey, which equates to around 1.2m UK adults.

Prevalence is high, with 11% of UK adults report being spiked at any point in their lives. 9% of males report thinking they have ever been a victim of drink spiking and 13% of females.

Reporting:
Around half of incidents are not reported to police because people ‘don’t see the point.’ (2022). 

Of the respondents who did not report the incident to the police (n=671), approximately half said they didn’t think that there was any point. Almost a quarter (24%) of women and almost a third (30%) of men didn’t tell anyone.

Drink spiking is more common than needling:
Our 2022 data shows that drink spiking is reported to occur eight times (n=711) more often than needling (n= 89).

Gender and sexuality:
In 2022, for every three females who report EVER being spiked, two men reported being spiked. This number changed to almost equal split (2.3% females and 2.1% males) in 2023, which looked at the 12 months leading up to the survey.

Females are slightly more likely to become victim of drink spiking in clubs (37%) than in bars (33%) (2023). 

LGBTQ+ adults are disproportionately affected. Gender and sexual minorities are almost twice as likely to report having EVER been a victim of drink spiking (17.8% vs. 10.6%; 2022 data) compared to cis-heterosexual individuals.

Venues:
In 2023, more incidents of drink spiking occurred in bars (41%) and clubs (28%) than anywhere else.