Reports of spiking via injection have been making headlines this week. In the last ten days alone, Nottinghamshire Police – where the majority of reported incidents have taken place – has received 12 reports of spiking via injection, while similar incidents have been reported in Liverpool, Edinburgh and Leeds.
Sarah Buckle is a 19-year-old Nottingham student, who woke up in hospital at 9:00am on 29th September after collapsing on a night out with friends. “My friends said that, out of nowhere, I just stopped being able to talk,” she tells GLAMOUR. “I seemed really panicked, apparently, and then very quickly, I was unable to stand up.”
After being violently sick and falling in and out of consciousness in the taxi home, Sarah’s friends called an ambulance. The next thing she remembers is being in the hospital at 9:00am the next morning. “My hand was really throbbing,” she continues. “A bruise was starting to develop and I felt a pinprick.” The conclusion was that she was likely spiked by a needle.
“It was just terrifying,” she says. “I felt awful. I was shaking for two days, it was the worst feeling ever.” Nottinghamshire Police told The Independent that, in one case, “an injury has also been sustained which could be consistent with a needle.”
While experts have contemplated the likelihood and efficacy of mass spiking-by-injection, the number of near-identical reports are concerning and work to highlight an issue that has been growing for more than five years: between 2015 and 2019, there were more than 2,600 reports of drinks being spiked in England and Wales and, between 2015 and 2018, reports rose by 108%. Since early September alone – during a period which reportedly sees an annual spike in such cases – Nottinghamshire Police has received 44 reports of spiking incidents in total.
Charlotte Alan, another Nottingham student, believes she had her drink spiked a few weeks ago while on her first night out back at university. “The club was extremely packed and there was close contact with everyone who walked past you,” she tells GLAMOUR. “I had only had two or three drinks in three hours, so I wasn’t drunk at all, just tipsy.”
When Charlotte and a few friends, including her boyfriend, went to get some fresh air in the smoking area, something changed: “After 10 minutes, I started to lose my vision and ability to stand. I started violently throwing up white foam and my breathing was rapid, and I was unable to talk or walk home.”
Charlotte was carried out of the club and taken home by her boyfriend and his friends. “I was told the next day that the bouncer stopped us and asked me if I knew these two boys. I was obviously unable to respond so my boyfriend said, ‘yes she knows us we are trying to get her home,’ and the bouncer let us all go.
“When I found this out, I was shocked and angry because that could have been two random boys or even the person that spiked me! The fact that the bouncer just let them take me without further questioning is very scary. My night could have ended completely differently if I hadn’t known who I was with!”