Is it possible?
Yes, and there are credible reports that people have woken up with spiked needle marks.
One medical consultant said that the possibility of it becoming a widespread phenomenon is “deeply unlikely”.
VICE News spoke with David Caldicott who is an emergency medicine consultant and the founder of WEDINOS drug testing project WEDINOS: ‘The technical knowledge and medical knowledge required for this would make it deeply improbable.
“It’s hard to stick a needle into someone without them being aware, especially if the needle has to be in there for a long enough time, maybe 20 seconds, in order to inject enough drugs to cause this.
Could the injection not be given quickly?
Yes, but thExperts say that discreetly they would need a very powerful drug.
GHB, one of the most popular ‘date rape drugs’, can be self-administered by people in small doses.
Guy Jones, a senior scientist at the Loop drug charity, said that it would be a poor candidate for injection due to the large amount of fluid required.
“It would therefore require a thick, painful needle. He explained that the substance involved would have to be highly detectable for several consecutive days in a toxicology screening.
Adam Winstock, Director of the Global Drug Survey, said: “There are very few easily available drugs / medicines that can be given intramuscularly in a small enough quantity that people would not notice them and the effects would take a while to show.”
“What you see on the screen is not what you get in reality.” People need to keep their drinks near them, not take them from strangers, and look out for their mates.
Can drugs be administered to any body part?
Yes, some parts are more efficient than others.
VICE spoke to Mr Jones, who said that there are injection sites that don’t work well if drugs can be administered non-intravenously.
“The back is one of these undesirable sites due to its low fat-muscle content and high concentrations of pain receptors.
What about drink spiking
Although injection spiking remains possible, drink spiking has become much more common.
The number of incidents involving drink spiking in the UK has increased by 108 Percent between 2015-2018, with 179 incidents happening in 2017.
This is just the official number. It is likely that it is much higher because it is common for people to not report it to police.
Charity Drinkaware advises that you do not accept a drink from anyone you don’t know. If they aren’t available, buy drink stoppers online to top off your bottle.
Gamma Hydroxybutyrate and Rohypnol, also known as Roofie, are the most well-known ‘date rape’ drugs.
Some recreational drugs, such as Ecstasy, Lysergic acid diethlamide (LSD), Ketamine or other ‘party-drugs’, can be used to spike alcoholic drinks.