If you enjoy a night out on the town at a bar or dance club, you need to know about the deadly practice known as spiking.
Health News:
Once upon a time, nightclub revelers could sit their drinks on a table and go light up the dance floor without ever worrying about their cocktail. Women could sit their drinks on the bar and turn their backs to talk to a friend, never thinking twice about the safety of their adult beverages. Patrons could walk around a bar, have a good time, and never fathom they might leave the bar in an ambulance. Well, that was then and this is now.
In case you’re unaware, spiking is when someone uses a powder or liquid to “spike” the drink of a partygoer (without their knowledge) in order to get them uncontrollably high. Another form of spiking is when someone injects a hypodermic needle directly into an unsuspecting partygoer at a bar or nightclub — again for the purpose of getting them uncontrollably high. Once the person is high and incapacitated, they are then robbed, raped, or even killed.
In New York City, 25-year-old Julio Ramirez died in the back seat of a taxi last April after he left the popular Ritz gay bar in Manhattan with a group of men. They stole his wallet, phone, and ID before abandoning his body in the backseat of the cab.
One month later, John Umberger was found dead in an Upper East Side townhouse after he and a group of men left the popular Q gay bar in Manhattan. Surveillance footage showed Mr. Umberger sandwiched between the men as they guided him into a car.
Both men had been spiked by people they didn’t know. The crooks left the bar with the men by acting as if they were helping a friend home who’d simply partied too hard. Once outside of the club, they drained thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of each man, stole their credit cards, then dumped them for someone else to find after they had long disappeared.
“Nobody thought it was a crime initially, they had just thought he had taken something,” said Julio’s brother, Carlos Ramirez. Mr. Ramirez added that when he heard about his brother’s death, “I knew somebody had given him something and he did not know they had.”
The spiking craze is not only occurring within the gay community but at all types of bars all across the globe.
Charlotte Evans, 18, was out with friends on Halloween when she suddenly lost all feeling in her face and her arm went numb. She left the club safely and went home. However, while at work the next day, she felt dizzy and was unable to stand. A pin prick-type mark on the inside of her forearm confirmed that she had been needle spiked.
Amy-Jayne Cramb, 23, was out with friends one Saturday evening when she ‘noticed a group of men acting strangely’ near her. Moments later she spotted blood on her outfit and ‘realized she had a needle prick on her hand’ and was bleeding. She had been spiked.
Prior to her move to London in September for graduate school, 27-year-old Micaela received a warning from a friend about the prevalence of spiking throughout Europe –- either by slipping a drug into a drink or injecting drugs into someone’s body via a needle. Micaela hadn’t even taken a sip of her drink when she felt a jab in her hip. Not 5 minutes later, she knew something was wrong because she became woozy, dizzy, and couldn’t see straight. Soon thereafter she collapsed in the middle of the floor. Thankfully she was with friends who picked her up and took her to the exit.
The fast-growing practice of spiking in bars and dance clubs has prompted officials in the United Kingdom to begin warning first-year university students to be aware of the risks of spiking.
Anyone at a bar or nightclub should always keep their drink directly in front of them with their eyes on it at all times. If a person is walking through a nightclub or near a dance floor, they should cover their drink with their hand/fingers to make it difficult for anyone to spike their drink without their knowledge.
Additionally, if at any time during a night out a person believes they’ve been the victim of spiking, they should immediately tell their friends and go home. If they are alone, they should immediately tell an employee at the bar what happened and ask for help. If they begin feeling dizzy or ill, they should be immediately taken to a hospital or ask that an ambulance be called on their behalf.
If Julio Ramirez and John Umberger had known to be aware of spiking and had sought immediate help, they may very well be alive today.
OK WASSUP! discusses Health News:
Beware of spiking at bars and nightclubs.
Psychology Today: Anyone who believes they were drugged while out on the town should be taken seriously, and their claims thoroughly investigated. However, a recent wave of spiking reports involving syringes, has all the hallmarks of a social panic. In autumn 2021, shocking reports began to appear across Britain about a new danger to young women: needle spiking. Typically, the victim was out clubbing with friends when she reported feeling woozy after consuming a small amount of alcohol. She would pass out and be taken home or to a hospital by friends. The next day, she had difficulty remembering what happened. Later, after examining their bodies, many claim to have found a pin prick, scratch or bruise that was assumed to be an injection site. One high profile case involved Sarah Buckle, a University of Nottingham student who was out clubbing when she blacked out. She later woke up in… Read more »