Women in the United Kingdoms have taken to the streets to protest over rising cases of spiking via drinks and needles.
These women have launched a nationwide campaign to boycott nightlclubs until they are made safer for them. They are demanding immediate measures to ensure their safety like the provision of covers that can be placed over drinks to increased surveillance in clubs and bars.
The first report of a person being spiked with “a sharp needle” was reported on 2nd October. Since 4 September, there have been 32 reports of people being spiked by having their drink contaminated. As well as drink spiking, an increasing number of women are reportedly being spiked in nightclubs via needle injection.
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Girls Night In, a group that is operating in 30 cities and voicing dissent against these malpractices are looking for an adequate response to the entire situation from the responsible authorities.
In a statement, the Nottinghamshire Police said it had received 44 spiking reports since 4 September, with 12 alleging “spiking by something sharp as opposed to a traditional method of contaminated alcoholic drinks”.
The majority of reports are being made by young women, particularly students, but there have also been reports of young men being potentially spiked too, police said, the New York Times reported.
Lizzie Wilson, 18, a victim of the needle contamination, said she had heard about young women being injected with syringes at crowded clubs and immediately feared she was another victim. Her friends rushed her to the hospital, where she spent hours disoriented and without sensation in her legs, the New York Times reported.
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The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has confirmed that reports of drink spiking cases are increasing across the country and has called on the Home Office to launch an inquiry into the problem.
"These figures have increased throughout October with the largest number of reports being made last weekend," NTIA said.
The UK force said it would be deploying more officers to the city centre over the next few weekends. There will be a planned operation with the force's police dogs on Saturday.
Young women have called for a boycott of clubs and also launched a petition calling for clubs to be required to search people on entering. To many women, the idea that they could be victimized by someone wielding a syringe at a nightclub is horrifying.
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More than 150,000 have signed a petition calling for nightclubs to "thoroughly" search customers on entry, and Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked police forces to examine the issue.
After pandemic restrictions shuttered campuses and nightlife for months, this school year was supposed to be a fresh start, with raucous nights out that many students see as a rite of passage.
Worries about drinks being covertly laced with drugs have long been an issue. A 2019 BBC investigation revealed more than 2,600 cases of drink spiking in England and Wales since 2015.
