“Push for female safety has never been stronger”

In recent weeks, the number of reported cases of spiked drinks have increased significantly. Many are taking to social media to speak out about their experiences in hope that the consequences for drink spiking will be made tougher to prevent future cases.

Using social media to talk about experiences of spiked drinks, sexual assault and assault in general has been done for years now, but it has finally become recognised as a problem that needs to be addressed. Student Zara Owen was one of those who have used social media to educate and warn others about the risk of drink spiking. She detailed as much of the night of the incident in as much detail as she could remember, her memory cuts out after a certain point in the night. Zara was told by her friends that she was wandering around alone, not making much sense for a lot of the night, so they put her in a cab and luckily got her home safely. The extent of the problem came into perspective when Zara woke up the next morning, she woke with an agonising pain in her leg and a puncture mark in the area where the pain was coming from. This suggested that Zara had been injected with a drug such as Rohypnol, which is often used in drink spiking. Zara sparked a chain of women speaking out about their own experiences, therefore showing the true problem with women’s safety – so many cases have been reported but they are often left without any justice. It is known that the police are aware of the allegations made by countless women, yet no arrests have been made in connection to them.

Statistics show that between the years 2015 and 2019, there were 2,650 cases of drink spiking. 71% of those victims were women, 10% of the cases were of those below the age of 18. This number isn’t as accurate as you would hope as many victims keep quiet about their experiences through the fear of their allegations not being taken seriously. Hopefully, more women will speak out about their experiences and the consequences for drink spikers will increase, allowing women to feel safe on their nights out.