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Child Item

'My drink was spiked' - The 'dog ate my homework' excuse

whisky_galore

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/latest-teens-could-have-died-from-alcohol-intoxication-at-west-cork-disco-says-specialist-829505.html

Dr Chris Luke, a consultant in emergency medicine at CUH and the Mercy University Hospital....criticised the ‘my drink was spiked’ response of some parents and teenagers caught up in similar incidents.
He said such spiking incidents are rare in Ireland and he encounters such cases maybe once or twice a year.

“I can’t tell you how upsetting it is for staff in hospitals to be working flat out, minding the young people of this country, only to be abused by parents who are alleging some mysterious third party spiked their teenager’s drink.
“If it were the case, we would have the worst epidemic of drink spiking in the history of Europe and I don’t believe that is the case.”
- Irish Examiner

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tabby aspreme

Wibbs wrote: »

There was a study from a few years back(UCD IIRC I'll try and dig up a link) where they looked at toxicology reports over a two year period as far as I recall, where patients insisted their drinks were spiked and asked their bloodwork be checked. And they didn't find a single case in the results. They did find excess alcohol and other drugs, mostly cannabis, but of rohypnol etc nada.

I think it's filed away next to the , One of my kidneys was stolen in the jacks , file

El Weirdo

whisky_galore wrote: »

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/latest-teens-could-have-died-from-alcohol-intoxication-at-west-cork-disco-says-specialist-829505.html

He described it as a 'vomatorium' and said the children were "paralytically, unconsciously drunk".

That word doesn't mean what he thinks it means.

valoren

The first night of my younger brother's stag party, our dad got sick when we went back to the hotel. He had one shot of Sambuca in the last pub and proclaimed that this shot was the reason he had vomited and embarrassed himself.

Pointing out that the FOURTEEN pints of Guinness he'd drunk before the sambuca might have contributed to his nausea was clearly lost on him :rolleyes:

blue note

Rubberchikken wrote: »

Its the same pathetic excuse as the 'dirty glass' excuse used to explain some tool emptying his guts after too much drink.

Haha - back home it was always a dodgy trip to the kebab shop that people used to blame!

"Oh man, those fcukers in the kebab shop made me so sick this morning."
"Oh yeah? What did you get?"
"Can't remember."

whisky_galore

El Weirdo wrote: »

That word doesn't mean what he thinks it means.

It doesn't, but I guess architectural terms for ancient Roman buildings was not covered in his medical training.

biko

Fecking snowflakes can't hold their drink.

neonsofa

Ajsoprano wrote: »

I was at a works party years ago and a few lads put a few e in the bosses pint.

I didn’t find out until later but was wondering why he was dancing like a madman and kissing the face off some aul wan.

Would pills in his drink not taste absolutely rank?
Not that that's the most pertinent issue with your story, just it was the first thought that came to mind when I read it!

kneemos

odyssey06 wrote: »

My main point is... He said such spiking incidents are rare in Ireland and he encounters such cases maybe once or twice a year.

I read the article and a lot of what he says was reasonable, common sense, he seems like a decent guy but that throwaway line came out of nowhere with zero justification... My expectation is that the majority of cases are fake but I'm just curious as to how he's so sure which ones are genuine and fake.

Well I'll take the medical professionals opinion as gospel.

AlanG

odyssey06 wrote: »

Does Dr Chris moonlight as a drinks detective or how does he know which cases are genuine???

I'm sure a lot of people use the excuse and it's total nonsense, but if Dr Chris has some foolproof way to tell the nonsense from the genuine we are all ears...

Person A might be drinking spirit+coke at a party and Person B, with an ulterior motive, gives them a double or more instead of a single... that's a low level form of spiking but one or two of those and someone is over the edge.

They know because they have to do blood tests on many people who claim their drinks were spiked and these usually come back only for alcohol.

Wibbs

tabby aspreme wrote: »

I think it's filed away next to the , One of my kidneys was stolen in the jacks , file

Well I hate to burst your sure conviction bubble Ted...

ANXIOUS wrote: »

I'd be interested in that wibbs.

No worries. I've not found the university study as yet, but I have found the official stance from The HSE on the matter(PDF Page 9) that concluded that their investigations found that by far the commonest drug in the systems of people presenting with sexual assault was alcohol. To save you trawling through the rest of it here's the pertinent bit:

The Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) in the Rotunda Hospital reported that 60% of the female clients seen at the SATU had ingested alcohol. The median number of drinks consumed and remembered by clients was 8 drinks, but 20% of the clients in the last number of years recalled drinking 12-22 drinks. Between 1998 and 2002, there was an increase from 6% to 27% in the number of cases where SATU was asked to evaluate the possibility of a sexual crime because of memory loss. The possibility of ‘spiked drinks’ was investigated, however the toxicology results showed no other drug was present except alcohol. [Emphasis mine].

Here's another from folks at the sharp edge of helping people who have been sexually assaulted, where they describe alcohol as the "date rape drug".

While I have little doubt drink spiking does occur, I also have little doubt that it is much more a boogyman and urban legend than everyday reality and that in the vast majority of cases people have simply drunk too much* and because it's naturally easier for people to look to outside sources, rather than take some personal responsibility for their state the spiked drink notion is quite popular.

*EDIT* I would put more store in the notion of spiking drinks with alcohol. Say someone who already is well on the way and some wanker adds a double to a mixed drink instead of the single the person was expecting. Or throwing a measure of vodka into a lager. If you're already a bit pissed, you could miss both easily enough.

*alcohol is a relatively gaugeable drug when it comes to its effects. However there is quite the bit of variance between individuals and even for the same individual. Depending on existing fatigue, lack of food, low level illness, mental state etc the same number of drinks one night can have a very different result on another night. Add in that the more one drinks the more judgement is impaired, even the basic ability to keep track of one's intake. And personal responsibility is also impaired.

seamus

Wibbs wrote: »

Here's another from folks at the sharp edge of helping people who have been sexually assaulted, where they describe alcohol as the "date rape drug".

While I have little doubt drink spiking does occur, I also have little doubt that it is much more a boogyman and urban legend than everyday reality and that in the vast majority of cases people have simply drunk too much*

Unfortunately there were a few who took this report to read as "rapists are deliberately spiking drinks with extra alcohol", when the reality is that they're more than likely taking advantage of a drunken state.

It is quite difficult to force an otherwise sober person to drink too much. Throwing an extra shot of vodka into a drink is virtually unmistakeable. That's not to say that when encountering a drunk woman and offering to buy her a drink he doesn't buy her a "sneaky" double.

But the idea that there are predators out there throwing dissolving pills or extra shots of vodka into the glasses of otherwise sober women, is basically an urban legend.

Wibbs

seamus wrote: »

It is quite difficult to force an otherwise sober person to drink too much. Throwing an extra shot of vodka into a drink is virtually unmistakeable. That's not to say that when encountering a drunk woman and offering to buy her a drink he doesn't buy her a "sneaky" double.

But the idea that there are predators out there throwing dissolving pills or extra shots of vodka into the glasses of otherwise sober women, is basically an urban legend.

"Otherwise sober" is the thing though S. Sure if someone has only had two or three drinks then the extra will be noticed, but if they've already had five or six or more then it's more likely to be missed.

odyssey06

kneemos wrote: »

Well I'll take the medical professionals opinion as gospel.

Fair enough if he is talking about spiking with drugs but there is absolutely no way he can tell if someone who had been doing some drinking earlier had their drink spiked with extra alcohol. All he knows is what was in the system not how it got there.

Nitrogan

My phone has been spiked before.

Either that or my drink was hacked.

suicide_circus

Why do my drinks never get spiked with drugs or extra drink ?

ED E

suicide_circus wrote: »

Why do my drinks never get spiked with drugs or extra drink ?

Ya must be a munter.

Ajsoprano

neonsofa wrote: »

Would pills in his drink not taste absolutely rank?
Not that that's the most pertinent issue with your story, just it was the first thought that came to mind when I read it!

I’ve no idea but I’d imagine all the sugars in the mixers might hide it.

I seen these lads in oxegen on ten or so es each and it looked like they weeent even high.

They were laughing saying they were throwing them in daring each other.

It was a terrible thing to do but no harm now looking back nobody got hurt everyone grew up

odyssey06

suicide_circus wrote: »

Why do my drinks never get spiked with drugs or extra drink ?

One work do, the girl running the tab took the drinks orders for everyone. Am pretty sure every whiskey that night was a double.

It was a free bar though... so maybe we all got the topups.

Great night. Terrible morning.

Bob Harris

Gia Agreeable Bodyguard wrote: »

In the innocent good old days we always seemed to blame that last 'bad pint'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwQFGjIy1Fw

fawltyBas

A quick Google finds a number of studies in relation to people claiming to have been spiked. They all come to similar conclusions to the one below, hardly anyone has been spiked they are just drunk.

"A study of patients presenting to an emergency department having had a "spiked drink".

Hughes H1, Peters R, Davies G, Griffiths K.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
To assess the scale of drink spiking in our area and identify which drugs are being used to spike drinks and also to assess whether there is a problem with drink spiking in any particular establishment.

METHODS:
A prospective study of all patients presenting to an emergency department with alleged drink spiking over a 12-month period. Samples were analysed for levels of alcohol and drugs of misuse. Information was collected as to where the alleged spiking took place and the involvement of the police.

RESULTS:
75 patients attended with alleged drink spiking over the period of 12 months. 42 samples were analysed and tested positive for drugs of misuse in 8 (19%) cases. 65% of those tested had alcohol concentrations >160 mg%. The alleged spiking took place in 23 different locations, with 2 locations accounting for 31% of responses. Only 14% of those questioned had informed the police.

CONCLUSIONS:
Most patients allegedly having had a spiked drink test negative for drugs of misuse. The symptoms are more likely to be a result of excess alcohol."

buried

Soon it'll be "But maaaammy, me cocaine was cranked with Persil"

And the mammy be ringing liveline "The cocaine was cranked with Persil, Joe"

odyssey06

"The most common date rape drug among college students, according to the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Alcohol and Drug Education, is alcohol itself."
https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/womens-health/victim-spiked-drink/

"Alcohol is the most common substance used to spike drinks. It can be added to a soft (non-alcoholic) drink without you knowing, or double measures can be used instead of singles."
https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/abuse/Pages/drink-spiking.aspx

So, just because people have been tested and found negative for "date rape drugs" such as tranquilisers, that doesn't mean their drink wasn't spiked.
Nor does it mean that everyone who claimed their drink was spiked... was spiked.
But I think this focus on tranquiliser type drugs is missing at least half the picture.

pleas advice

charlietheminxx wrote: »

This happened to me once. Not the kissing an aul one bit or the work party but yeah.

happened me too, wasn't a work party, and I spiked my own drink, but...

conorhal

Wibbs wrote: »

There was a study from a few years back(UCD IIRC I'll try and dig up a link) where they looked at toxicology reports over a two year period as far as I recall, where patients insisted their drinks were spiked and asked their bloodwork be checked. And they didn't find a single case in the results. They did find excess alcohol and other drugs, mostly cannabis, but of rohypnol etc nada.

Who has ever seen rohypnol? Seriously, I can't even imagine how you could go about getting something like that, which is besides the point that rohypnol and other similar drugs have, for years, had a dye added that changes the colour of drinks if added to them.
I've never experienced a blackout, but like most people I suspect, I have experienced a wide variance of drunkenness with alcohol. We've all had those nights out where you've drunk 10 pints and been sober as a judge or alternatively had three beers and been falling about the place.
It seems to me that urban legend and a culture of paranoia contributes to this persistent claim.

The most common thing a drink is spiked with is alcohol, and the most common person to do that to you is a friend with no ill intent. There are plenty of times during a night I've been handed a drink that was a 'double' without it being mentioned by some mate with a misguided sense of drunken generosity.

Foxtrol

You’d have to be spiked with alcohol either extremely aggressively (which you would expect to notice) or many times over to have such a serious impact to your actions that usually end up with the ‘spiking’ excuse getting trotted out.

Wibbs

I dunno F, can depend on the person. Personally speaking if I have a certain amount of drinks I'm drunk, but still in control, at least of major things. I might act like a gobsh1te(more than usual anyway), but the self preservation and level of alertness to that is still present. I also know this point and would be vigilant and will go on the oul minerals from then on(or just go home). If I have another two standard drinks that level of alertness can be seriously affected. I'll be a walking zombie and a lot more vulnerable. Now if I were much younger with little enough experience of being drunk it would be easy enough for me to keep drinking, or for someone to add a couple of extra drinks into the mix. Just saying F I can see how some young fella or young wan out on the tear could tip over into that point of stupefaction.

Foxtrol

Wibbs wrote: »

I dunno F, can depend on the person. Personally speaking if I have a certain amount of drinks I'm drunk, but still in control, at least of major things. I might act like a gobsh1te(more than usual anyway), but the self preservation and level of alertness to that is still present. I also know this point and would be vigilant and will go on the oul minerals from then on(or just go home). If I have another two standard drinks that level of alertness can be seriously affected. I'll be a walking zombie and a lot more vulnerable. Now if I were much younger with little enough experience of being drunk it would be easy enough for me to keep drinking, or for someone to add a couple of extra drinks into the mix. Just saying F I can see how some young fella or young wan out on the tear could tip over into that point of stupefaction.

That makes sense. From personal experience though, when I’ve ever heard the excuse it has generally been from females who have claimed they ‘only had a few’ and ‘should have been grand’.

Never heard ‘I knew I was close to having too much and being spiked sent me over the edge’ which is far more believable.