Whether home or away, drink spiking is an issue that will not disappear.

Not only does it involve the use of date rape drugs, such as Rohypnol, but other hallucinogenic substances and even alcohol can be used to spike drinks as one female student recently discovered.

A few months ago, I found her collapsed in the toilets of an establishment, claiming her drink had been spiked. She was incoherent and extremely unsteady and it took myself and two members of security to get her outside.

She said she started to feel dizzy late in the night and had suffered memory loss. Although she was taken to hospital they did not conduct tests for drugs.

When she went back home she was still not feeling herself, so she went to her local doctors. Here, they discovered she was suffering from the side effects of Rohypnol, which include losing consciousness, breathing problems and spells of blacking out.

However it was too late to know for sure since it quickly leaves your system. Two days later, she experienced hallucinations, and together this could have been a result of any hallucinogenic mixed with Rohypnol.

Another student experienced the effects of having her drink spiked whilst on her year abroad and gives us her insight.

“I will freely admit that I wasn’t on my guard at all, which may seem silly as I was in a new place with a group of people, most of whom I had only recently met, so I didn’t feel the need to take care.

Bad move.

After the pub closed we went onto another bar and then a nightclub. By the time we arrived at the club we were all fairly drunk, but by no means wasted. Even so I decided to lay off the alcohol for a bit and switch to orange juice.

After a couple of drinks, I went off to the toilet, but as I was about to go back to my friends my legs went from under me. I shouted for someone to help me and that’s the last thing I really remember.

Concerned by my disappearance, one of my friends came to find me. She was confronted by me collapsed in heap in the corner screaming and shouting incoherently.

Some of the other women in there were trying to help me, trying to calm me down. I was paranoid and hallucinating, so other people’s attempts to help we were often aggressively resisted.

After an hour or so I had calmed down enough for us to leave and had stopped complaining about things coming out of the walls, although I did try to climb a wall outside to get away from some hallucinatory creature.

I was lucky that I was with good friends who didn’t freak out themselves, although it still isn’t known who put what in my drink or why.

I guess the moral of the story is not to be paranoid, but to at least be wary especially in new surroundings.”

To avoid being a victim:

• If you feel even slightly ill from a couple of drinks, seek a trusted friend or member of management – never go anywhere alone.


• Never leave your drink unattended, even with friends.


• Always buy your own drinks or accompany anyone else that is buying them if you do not know them that well.


• Try and stick to drinking from a bottle as it is harder to drop a drug inside.