‘Spiking’ is giving someone else drugs or alcohol without their knowledge or permission. For example:
- drink spiking - adding drugs or alcohol to someone else's drink
- vape or cigarette spiking - giving someone drugs in a cigarette or e-cigarette
- needle spiking - injecting drugs into someone else's body with a needle or auto-injector pen
- food spiking - adding drugs to someone's food
Giving someone more alcohol or drugs than they were expecting and consented to is also spiking. For example, giving someone double shots instead of single ones.
It's sensible not to accept a drink from a stranger or leave your drink unattended. But sometimes people get spiked by people they know and trust.
Symptoms of spiking include but are not limited to:
- feeling or being sick
- feeling ‘strange’ or drunker than expected
- feeling confused or disorientated
- feeling sleepy
- blurred or slowed vision, or trouble seeing properly
- loss of balance or coordination
- having trouble communicating
- hallucinating
These symptoms might start within 15 minutes, depending on what a person has been spiked with. Symptoms can last for several hours.