More and more people are reporting having had their drink spiked.
In the UK, reports of drink spiking have doubled in the past three years according to new data collected from British police forces.
Sky News reports that there has been a 108 percent increase in police reports containing the words “drink”, “spiking” or “lacing” since 2015.
That year, there were 103 reports of drink spiking and in 2017 there were 179 – the most ever recorded by police in the UK.
Despite this increase in reports, it is widely assumed that a large portion of drink spiking incidents are not reported to police at all.
According to the HSE, while discussions around drink spiking have increased in recent years, the exact figures around it are widely unknown.
On their website they say that oftentimes when a person presents to A&E saying that they have been spiked, no unknown substances are reported.
This could because the substance has already left the person’s system or because the drink itself was not spiked, but either way, compiling data on the prevalence of drink spiking has proven difficult in Ireland.
If you believe you or a friend has been spiked, you should always report the incident and seek medical attention.
