Needle spiking furore masks the real problem of drink spiking

Last weekend the Sunday Times reported confidently, over several pages, on "Britain's hidden drink-spiking epidemic". The story included alarming case studies of women and men collapsing after apparently having drugs added to their drinks on nights out. This happens. No question. But the story also reported as fact that of 4,643 cases of alleged spiking recorded by the National Police Chiefs' Council for 2022-23, 957 – more than a fifth – were administered by needle. And that "the true figures look to be much higher". The true figures for drink spiking may indeed be much higher. But for needle spiking? Not so much. Two years ago Tortoise spent months investigating claims of a wave of needle spiking across Britain and found no confirmed cases. In today's Sensemaker Audio, Adam Waugh of the drug-checking charity We Are The Loop says he's not aware of any "confirmatory evidence in terms of toxicology that an incident of needle spiking has occurred". That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just that if it does there isn't much of it. The real problem of drink spiking by serving doubles or triples when single measures have been asked for is in danger of being masked by stories about something more sinister but less likely.