News stories about drink and needle spiking incidents can attract significant interest, but experts warn they can drive misconceptions and distorted fears about spiking in the community. Here's what you should know.
News stories about alleged drink and needle spiking incidents sometimes attract significant interest — but experts say they can also spark fear and fuel misconceptions about spiking in the community.Needle or injection spiking — administering a drug with a needle without consent — is a phenomenon which has attracted significant media interest in recent years, particularly in the UK, but there have been a number of reported cases in Australia too.
However, Victoria Police said the idea that drink spiking was prevalent in the community was a "misconception", adding that fewer than 40 drink spiking offences were recorded in the 12 months to March 2024. During the same period, NSW crime statistics data shows there was a smaller number of reports of the same offence occurring at a home, rather than a licensed venue. But by comparison, those matters were much more likely to proceed to court – more than half of them did.
Most drink-spiking patients, who Dr Greene said typically presented with symptoms like dizziness or vomiting, do not qualify for testing under this study, which helps detect dangerous drugs circulating in the community, like synthetic opioids. Again research has shown alcohol was far more likely to be involved in these situations rather than 'date-rape' or sedative drugs, like GHB.
"It also doesn't matter if this is drugs or alcohol, if they were incapable of consenting, then it could still lead to sexual assault," she said.Experts said stories about spiking were often framed with the assumption that the alleged perpetrator was a stranger in a public place, like a nightclub, who had the intention of sexually assaulting their spiking victim.This was also what Dr Anderson found in her analysis of suspected drug-facilitated sexual assaults.
Injection Spiking Drink Spiking Spiking Ghb Rohypnol Alcohol Dv Sex Assault
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Australia news LIVE: King and Queen return to Sydney; Lidia Thorpe’s protest makes international newsRead the national news blog for live coverage of today’s top news stories.
Read more »
Australia news LIVE: King and Queen return to Sydney; Lidia Thorpe’s protest makes international newsRead the national news blog for live coverage of today’s top news stories.
Read more »
Australia news LIVE: King and Queen return to Sydney; Lidia Thorpe’s protest makes international newsRead the national news blog for live coverage of today’s top news stories.
Read more »
Australia news live: Kevin Rudd will remain as ambassador to US, PM says; bushfire warnings for Victoria’s westFollow today’s news live.
Read more »
Brisbane news live: Wesley Hospital plans to expand across streetFor today’s news updates in Brisbane and beyond as they come in, follow us here.
Read more »
Australia news LIVE: Australia votes for ‘permanent sovereignty’ for Palestinians at UN; Albanese holds court at APECKeep up to date on today’s top stories with our live national news blog.
Read more »