The Concept of Mortifying and Scarring Experience for the Victim

I will be diving into the chilling theme of 'spiking' as it is called nowadays and how it can be a mortifying and scarring experience for the victim. I will delve into the mind of a person that feels the need to do these unlawful actions and supply statistics on really how many women and men are spiked in the previous years up till now. The questions that are answered are as follows, why do they do it ? What are the dangers ? How can it be tackled ?

A night of fun could result in a night or horror as many people are unaware that they have been drinking a drug riddled beverage and don't act on the situation as soon as they can. This can be a result of denial and having a fixed mind set of 'that will never happen to me '. This is why many people don't know the signs of having a spiked drink. Some of the signs are, drowsiness, a salty taste overpowering the flavour of the drink, nausea, paranoia and many other terrifying side effects.

Rohypnol, GHB, benzodiazepines. These are some of the most commonly used drugs for the spiking process and what is most horrifying about these drugs is that you can get them online. This means anyone can have their hands on them and make someone's life a nightmare filled with terrorising thoughts for the rest of their lives. Lots of people know these signs however and act on it straight away. The number of spiking cases reported to the UK police in 2017 was 1039 and has increased since then.

One of the most asked questions is why do people spike other people's drinks. Some of the reasons are to sexually assault, for amusement, because they think it's exiting and maybe to have power over someone and treat them as if they were a pawn in their evil game. Spiking mostly happens in clubs and at festivals. Anywhere alcohol is present and where there are a lot of people. 'But if there are a lot of people around then wont there be more witnesses?', the answer to that question is most likely no as the individuals in the clubs and at festivals are most likely than not under the influence of alcohol and have no way of telling if someone is being pulled away from the crowd.

It can be argued that women are the only ones that ever get spiked, however this isn't the case. In fact one fifth of reports of being spiked are from men. However in most cases if a man is spiked it isn't for sexual assault but for amusement but there are some cases where it has been. If caught spiking or if the victims knows who did it the subsect can get charged and face being sent to prison for a maximum of ten years, if rape was involved in the attack the sentence would most likely increase.

The number one way people spike is either putting the drug in their drink while they aren't looking or if it is unsupervised or giving the victim a drink that the 'spiker' has paid for. In 2018 The Scottish Sun published an article online issuing that girls that were against spiking had started a campaign to get lids put on glasses to prevent spiking in bars and clubs in the UK. The campaign received a lot of support and feedback from the general public who also felt strongly about the subject. 

The girls were university students and had experienced the effects of being drugged. After they started this campaign many bars and universities listened and carried out the favour that the girls had asked. In my opinion I feel that as a girl myself that this campaign was very well thought out and I fully support it. On a night out with friends you would like to feel safe and secure and not having to worry about the consequences of drinking and with this campaign you won't need to.

Now that in this day and age many young and old adults like to go out and have a good time I feel that by the end of this year, 2019 all bars, clubs and festivals should have the lid policy in place so that everyone can feel safe in the environment that they are in no matter the circumstances. I feel that drugs shouldn't be so easily accessible because of the internet and that people who act suspicious inside and outside of clubs should be checked for drug possession. There are lots of helplines for the victims that are having to live with the aftermath of spiking and therapy groups to help with the trauma they might be going through. 

Personally I think that yes, helplines and therapy groups would be a very good way of letting feelings go and it would be good to talk to a professional but this does not completely erase the persons memory of being took advantage of or controlled. In my opinion I think that these helplines shouldn't be needed in the first place as spiking should not be a thing. Things to remember from this essay are that it is very important not to wipe out the idea of spiking in your head and forget about it because it is crucial that if you see that someone is in need of help that you can identify the signs and help prevent the traumatic events that would soon happen after the consumption of a drug ridden drink.