Drink Spiking

What is drink spiking

Drink spiking is where alcohol or other drugs either prescription or illicit, have been added to a drink without the drink owners knowlege or approval. The resulting effects can be deadly, life threatening, can lead to sexual assault and at the very least is very scary. it is illegal and is a serious violation for the person who is spiked. For a sex worker, it is one of the worst violations we can experience and is very dangerous and we take is vey seriously.

What drugs are being used to Spike drinks

alcohol       pills      GHB      Ketamine     cocktails

You may be suprised to hear this, but alcohol is the most commonly used substance used to spike drinks. This happens when someone asks you if you'd like a drink ie. vodka and orange, and instead of giving you one shot of vodka they'll put 2 or more shots in.  In other words they put extra alcohol into your drink you're not aware of.

Other drugs commonly used are prescription medications like:

• Benzodiazepines (Benzos),
• Barbiturates (Barbs),
• muscles relaxants and hypnotics like Serapax (Sera's), Valium and Rohypnol (Rohy's - drug most hyped as being associated with drink spiking in the media, though not in reality).

Illicit drugs that are used include:

• GHB (Gamma hydroxybutyrate -also known as GBH, G, liquid E, liquid ecstasy, liquid X, salty water, Georgia Home Boy, soap, scoop, organic Quaalude, cherry meth, blue nitro)
• Ketamine (Special K, K)
• Ecstasy (E, eckies, pills, pillage , also named by branding of batches)

All sorts of drugs are being used to spike drinks, although this is more of a factor with the sex working community
  mixing drinks        GHB           alcohol

The most commonly used drug to spike is definately alcohol in the heterosexual community. In the gay and sex working community, most people report being spiked with pills and GHB more frequently than with alcohol. It is thought that sex workers are spiked with harsher more fast acting drugs like GHB and pills. This is because they watch how much alcohol they consume because they have to work, and there are time limits on how long someone has to knock you out. It's not as if they can take the time to dose you with alcohol over hours if they have a 1 hour booking.

The thing with spiking a drink with pills or GHB, is that they often have a very salty, bitter or residual flavour you can taste. For this reason, it is important you be VERY careful when drinking Coca Cola, Mojitos and other strong tasting drinks, because they can disguise the taste of pills and GHB. In reality you should avoid anything but a glass of beer or wine you have seen opened with your own eyes; mixed drinks you have mixed yourself or watched being mixed, with all the bottles that make up those drinks freshly opened and unsealed in front of you.

How to avoid having your drink spiked

anti drink spiking device "Spikey"     wine anti spiker top     watch boys like a hawk  

  watch all drinks being mixed

There are lots of opportunities for a drink to be spiked and it is crucial sex workers know about them and are paranoid when it comes to spiking. To avoid being spiked the things you should remember include:

1. never leave your drink unattended or let it out of your site

2. take your drink with you if you go to the toilet or any other room

3. never drink from a glass you haven't seen come out of a cupboard clean - make sure there is no liquid or powders lining the glass before something is poured in it

4. never drink from an open bottle even if the bottle is still full

5. never drink water from a bottle of water unless it comes from a sealed bottle of water or directly out of a tap

6. if you are having a mixed drink, make sure you watch it being made checking that you know how much alcohol is going in it. Check the mixes going in it come from unopened bottles; and if it has sugar added to it, make sure that it is actually sugar being added and not powdered/crystal form of drugs

7. if you are in a home or hotel room and having a bottle of juice or wine, listen to the safety seal pop - safety seals are now mandatory for a reason.

8. if someone is annoyingly insistant on you drinking anything, even a glass of water, be very very suspect.

9. have a sip of a drink first and wait 10 - 20 minutes before you drink more if you haven't seen it being poured, didn't see the bottle opened or you let the drink out of your site.

10. be paranoid

11. be aware of the drug interactions that may occur if you polydrug use (ie.s use more than one drug at once). This means if you are on anti-depressants, know the effect different types of alcohol and in what quantity will have on you.

12. don't get to faaarcked in one booking if you have to back up and do another booking straight away.

13. if someone is insistant you take cocaine or other drugs, tell them you will wrap it up in a TallyHo or toilet paper and swallow it and then stick it in your mouth and spit it out as soon as you can. Tell them you want to swallow it because you can't have a runny nose because it is unladylike and your security will get the shits with you. If they want you to take a drug, they will more often than not get it into you one way or another. Better to fool them than to have an aggressive stand off or be slipped drugs.

14. do not hesitate to end a booking if you feel any threat or danger at all.

How to recognise if your drink has been spiked - how does it feel

  basically you feel whacky and fucked like you do when you look at that picture

You will generally know within 10 - 20 minutes if your drink has been spiked. When the spiking takes effect, you will notice different things depending on what drug has been added. As a general rule however, if you are drinking alcohol and you feel "different" from what you normally would for the amount of alcohol you have drunk, be concerned. If you are drinking a non-alcoholic substance, if you feel intoxicated at all, be worried.

Depending on what drug is used, the feeling of intoxication will feel differently. Common side effects include:

• feeling dizzy
• not being able to walk
• not being able to stand up 
• slurred speech or not being able to speak
• feeling nauseus and/or throwing up
• wanting to go and sit in a corner or wanting to curl up in a corner
• feeling high or euphoric
• feeling very sad
• feeling very anxious
• feeling manic
• hypersensitivity - colors seem brighter, noises sound louder or more shrill, things move at a different pace
• muscle spasms
• trouble breathing
• wanting to dance alot, not being able to sit still
• talking to much
• feeling out of control
• not able to order your thoughts
• not being able to keep track of time
  

What to do the day after your drink is spiked or when you wake up and can move

• get out of there as soon as you possibly can
• leave some DNA evidence behind that he doesn't see you leave. Rip out some strands of hair and stick it behind or under the bed, drop some hair on the carpet, go puke in the toilet and get some on the floor, leave a stocking behind, leave something behind in case you decide to report it to the Police. Street based sex workers always leave hair, spit, blood etc in cars if they are raped because Police must act and take ladies seriously if evidence is found. Help the Police with providing evidence you were where you say you were.
• call a friend or security to come and get you straight away. Even if you cannot speak into the phone, they will begin looking for you and be ready to come and get you and be with you when you can talk again
• have a friend watch you sleep or spend time with you to make sure you don't stop breathing if you fall asleep, or if you throw up they can make sure you don't choke on your own vomit
• have a friend with you to cry and get angry with - misery and drama needs company
• report it to your favourite forum, other sex workers, sex worker organisation so they can pass around his phone number, address, what he looks like etc. See Ugly Mug Page here
• consider reporting it to the Police immediately. Many drugs that may be used will clear your system very quickly, so it can be hard to test for them if you don't report it immediately.
• be nice to yourself - you have been violated and someone has been awful to you. Chances are you will not be happy and very sad, so look after yourself
• when you get up, be sure to try and check that you have all of your belongings and he hasn't stolen you money, ID, keys etc from your bag
• check you have nothing inserted inside your body that will cause you harm eg. used condoms, broken glass - some guys find it amusing to fuck you with a beer bottle while you're passed out and it may break inside you. Be sure to check for broken glass and other objects because you don't want to be moving around and causing more damage
• you will probably still feel wooozy on your feet when you leave. if you have to walk down a hill, take off your stilletoes to do it. I was spiked and I had to walk down a hill to get to a taxi stand and I fell over 4 times in the space of 10 steps. I cut my leg open, the contents of my bag fell out all over the street and I was too fucked to pick it all up. Falling over also bought lots of people over to help me out and I got abused by one of them with "I don't know why young woman go out and get so drunk they can't even stand up". It can be better to be bare footed and look like a dick than to be falling down looking like a bigger dick.
• When you leave, be really careful with crossing roads. Try and stick to crossing at sets of lights and pedestrian crossings. You will probably have trouble judging distances, how fast cars are coming and may not even be able to see cars until you're underneathe one.
• When catching a taxi home, be really careful he doesn't rip you off and steal from you. Be sure to wind down the window and sit in the back passenger seat of the car. Try and sit in the seat which is not directly behind the driver (sitting behind the driver will make you car sick). This is so he can't molest you and so you can easily open the door to throw up if you need to without someone pushing you out of the cab.
  

Working for an Agency / Establishment and drink spiking  How to deal with an agency if your drink has been spiked and they want to send you out on more bookings
   look familiar? Yup they are the friendly managers we have to go and explain ourselves to after being spiked

Agency's will generally swing one of two ways. They will either look after you, or send you out on your next booking as soon as you stop throwing up and they have finished abusing you for being "stupid" enough to get spiked. Most ladies I have spoken to and in my own personal experience, have had huge problems when they get out of a booking and have to deal with the receptionist/management. At the same time the management/receptionist are your lifeline when you're in a drink spiking booking. It's important to work with them, but know when you got to work for yourself.

How to work with agency's to keep yourself safe:

1. always call in and out on time so they know if you're late on a call in, there is trouble

2. ask the agency when you get the booking if anyone has seen them before. If they have ask them what they are like in bookings - a receptionist will know what he's like and what he does in a booking. They will know if he likes his girls to take drugs or girls have left bookings with him overly intoxicated

3. ask the girls in the agency if anyone has seen him and if they have, what he is like in bookings - girls will never usually discuss sex, but they will talk about if he want you and him to party in bookings, get drunk, is abusive or dodgey in any way. They will often talk about their hooker spider senses and if he has given them the heebeeejeeebeees.

4. when you get there (if escorting) if there are any drugs on premesis, excuse yourself to the bathroom taking your drink with you, call the receptionist and let them know. They will then know to take extra care when doing the calls ins and should send a driver to lurk around your general area depending on the amount of drugs he wants you to consume or you have seen on premesis.

5. if you work for an agency that does not want you around drugs, they will call the client and tell them to put the drugs away or you will leave. They will read the riot act to the client for you. If there are illicit drugs on premesis, you are more at risk of being spiked.

Added risk factors when spiked

  using pills (antidepressants) and alcohol at the same time

Polydrug use is the largest added risk factor when talking drink spiking. Polydrug use means taking or being on more than one drug at a time. People combine drugs for effect ie. to gain a particular feeling. For example polydrugs use may be taking antidepressants, drinking, using heroin and alcohol all at the same time; or it may be using antidepressants and alcohol only at the same time etc. 

• are you on prescription medication? Antidepressants will enhance the effect of the drug you're spiked with depending on what pills you are on and what drug is used to spike your drink. If you take depressants for depression like benzo's, drink alcohol and then throw GHB into the mix, you are in trouble. This is because they all supress the central nervous system which effects breathing, blood flow and oxygen levels essentially slowing down your body. This means you slow down to the point where you forget to breathe which aint healthy.
• if you are on antidepressants and then drink to much, the alcohol will have an effect on the antidepressants you're on and either slow you down, make you unable to control your mood, judgement or movement which also means big trouble. For this reason it is important to closely monitor how much you are drinking
• if you are taking illicit drugs like speed, and someone spikes your Coca Cola with cocaine, this can cause you to overdose, pass out, stop breathing, any one of many bad side effects.
• arriving at a booking already intoxicated to the point you can't keep track of what's going on
• going to a booking with more than 1 guy at it so there are more people to overpower you, distract you, control you and/or rape you
• drinking alcohol you don't know the strength of. Trying a new cocktail or spirit for the first time in a booking is not a good idea
• do not trust anyone including regulars
  

Golden Rules to avoid drink spiking

1. never leave your drink unattended

2. never drink out of a bottle you have not seen opened

3. always keep your clothes and bag in one pile in case you need to get out of an escort booking very quickly before you are to intoxicated to move

4. always keep your phone up to date with ugly mugs to avoid booking these guys

5. always have security to check on you after a booking 

6. keep track of how many drinks you are drinking

7. gauge how fucked you should feel in comparison to how intoxicated you actually do feel for the amount you have drunk

8. have a taste of the drink before you have a skull of the drink tasting for an off (bitter, salty) flavour

9. sip the drink and wait 10 - 20 minutes before having a big drink of it to gauge if you feel intoxicated when you shouldn't

10. always tell a friend or security where you are and what time you will be back if escorting. If doing an incall have a friend on MSN or do a call in and out with a friend when client gets there and leaves

11. trust no-one

12. if doing a booking with a friend or another lady, watch out for each other and have a designated sober hooker. The designated sober hooker really needs to be careful, because it is usually the sober person a spiker will try and spike because they are the sensible sober person so need to get you out of the way and render you unable to function. The designated sober person is the one stopping them from doing what they want, but she is the one trying to keep both ladies and their belongings safe.

Hookers Story on being Spiked

Once upon a time there was a Princess doing a job in a lovely place in Sydney (not a Castle but because I wasn't a proper Princess yet). The Little Princess arrived at the booking and passed another lady on the way out who said "careful he wants to party". Little Princess walked into the booking and was seated in the lounge room on a chair.

The first thing Mr Troll did was take a plate off the top of another plate to reveal about an ounce of cocaine. Little Princesses gulped hard and thought "here we fucking go". Mr Troll said "rack us up some lines Babe", Little Princess thought "not in this fucking life time Babe and how the fuck am I going to get out of this one". Little Princess thought hard of a way to bond with him so he wouln't get pissed off or feel like she was passing judgement on him so she said "Naaaaah I can't have any because I've already had some speed tonight so coke wont work on me anyway". Mr Troll said "of course it will cause it's uncut babe". Little Princess thought "hmmm should have told him 'naaaaah I can't because I'm moonlighting as a hooker and my day job is working for the NSW Police Narcotics Unit and I get urine tested every 3 days' DOH!" Mr Troll then started insisting Little Princess take the cocaine or he'd send her away. He also said he had already booked 4 girls in the last 4 hours thru the agency and was going to book 10 more if I took the coke, and if I didn't he'd call the agency and tell them why he wasn't going to book anymore and who's fault it was.

Little Princess need some room to think so she asked for a drink. Troll said he only had Coca Cola and Little Princess said "well whoever would have thunk it!". Little Princess and Mr Troll then sat there debating how fat lines of cocaine should be for premium snorting ability while she drank her Coca Cola, smoked a cigarette really slowly trying to kill time for the hour to be up. Mr Troll then insisted again she had a line of cocaine.

At this stage Little Princess thought "hmmm time to call the agency and tell them what's going on and that I'm not taking any cocaine so they should send a girl who would immediately". Little Princess excused herself to the toilet to make the call, made the call and was informed to either take the coke, pretend to take the coke or do whatever you have to do, but DON'T FUCK IT UP OR I'LL FINE YOU. FOR GOD'S SAKE IT'S JUST A BIT OF COKE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY GIRLS WOULD KILL FOR THAT BOOKING AND YOU'RE BEING UNGRATEFUL AND BEING A FUCKING PRINCESS?! CALL ME IN 45 MINUTES AND TELL ME YOUR EXTENDING" clink, they hung up the phone. Right Little Princess thought, time for a cigarette and a bit of whatever comes into your head to get out of this. Little Princess walked out of the toilet, sat back down on the lounge and had a gulp of her drink and smoked a cigarette.

Mr Troll began snorting his lines of cocaine, passed the $100 note to Little Princess and said "have some". Little Princess and Mr Troll then got into a BIG fight about it all and then all of a sudden Little Princess felt very dizzy, fairly nauseus and her muscles were twitching. The lights were doing this funny thing as well where they looked a funny bright color and she could see them flickering. Little Princess thought "for fuck's sake MIA, calm the fuck down you're having a panic attack". Little Princess looked over at Mr Troll and he was sitting there smirking at her. She doesn't know how long she sat there for but Mr Troll then said "I told ya it was good coke Babe". Little Princess tried to stand up but fell over and was lieing on the floor looking at the roof. Little Princess remembers thinking "aaaah it's so nice to be lieing on the floor. What an interesting roof he has" and then she passed out.

Little Princess then woke up to the sounds of other guys in the room and she tried to open her mouth to ask the mug who else was in the room but her mouth wasn't working. She could hear them talking about making her do a strip show for them and Little Princess thought "but I can only do a strip show for one person because there is only suppose to be one person here". Little Princess then passed out thinking "I wish these guys would sit down because their heads are getting in the way of the roof i'm trying to look at".

Little Princess then woke up again to the sounds of more people in the room and tried to move a bit. She felt something cold between her legs pressing on her skin and thought "how curious what's that it feels wet". She moved a little bit and saw Carlton Cold bottles all around her and she thought "oh they have stuck a beer bottle up me, but it's ok it's a Carlton Cold bottle and they have thicker glass to keep them colder so it wont break inside me. Everything's ok, I'll think I'll just close my eyes for a while again" and she passed out thinking about vegetables and if they'd feel better than a Carlton Cold bottle inside you.

Little Princess then woke up again and noticed she was lieing on her side this time. Little Princess felt wetness on her legs again but it was hot wetness. She tried to curl around to see what it was but she had a massive shot of pain shoot up her back. She tried to roll over but one of the guys put his foot on her arm and said "don't move whore cunt there is a shotgun up your arsehole and a gun up ya cunt". Little Princess thought "fair enough that sounds reasonable" and then passed out again this time thinking about bananna's.

Little Princess then woke up in the car of the driver for the escort agency and she looked over at the driver and she still remembers his face of sheer love, panic and concern. He said "don't move MIA just stick your head out of the window, I'm here". Little Princess thought "oh that's lovely" and passed out again.

Little Princess then woke up on the floor of the escort agency's toilet with her head in a toilet bowl and was throwing up. She remembers Anika holding her hair out of the toilet bowl while she threw up and thought to herself "I love how white and clean this toilet is and I love Polish girls cause they are nasty and don't take shit from men, but are the best friends you can have in the world. When i grow up i'm going to be Polish".

Little Princess then woke up in the back of a car and remembers looking out the window and seeing the Harbour Bridge metal flashing by and was thinking what amazing patterns it made.

The next thing the Little Princess remembers is being at the Casino in the lifts sitting on the floor with 5 hookers slapping her face telling her to wake up. Little Princess jumped to her feet full of panic and said "right let's do this. What are we doing?" lol. She then looked down at the dress she was wearing and thought "who's dress is this? How did I get this dress on?". They then walked into a booking where the guy Little Princess had to see tried to hit her and rape her. Fortunately for her she was loaded to her eyeballs on Cocaine so was a tad aggressive and he didn't get away with it and nothing could hurt anyway. They all left the booking and Little Princess noticed her Polish friend was silently weeping and had blood all over her hands. Apparently the guy she had seen had raped her. Little Princess didn't think that was a good thing to happen so she smacked on the door until it opened, stormed in, picked up a beer bottle and smacked the rapist in the face with it before walking out.

Soooo what went wrong?...

1. Little Princess left her drink unattended with a guy who was insisting she takes coke

2. Little Princess should have pretended to take the coke because if they want it in you, they will get it there one way or the other (wrap it in a TallyHo or toilet paper, stick it in your mouth and pretend to swallow it, then spit it out when he's not looking)

3. when Little Princess called the agency and said that she didn't want to be there and the agency told her she had to be, Little princess should have told them to go fuck themselves she quits

4. Little Princess should have sipped her Coca Cola to see if he had put anything in it

5. Little Princess should have not had Coca Cola in a booking because you couldn't taste Petrol if they put it in Coca Cola because it has such a strong noxious flavour. If all they had was Coca Cola, she should have drunk toilet bowl water if she had to instead.

6. Little Princess shouldn't have hit the rapist in the face with a beer bottle. She probably should have picked up the champagne bottle and done it.

7. Little Princess should have been aware that being a sex worker is a dangerous profession and you're not paid for sex, you're paid to put your life at risk

8. Little princess learnt how important it is she has other sex workers/drivers as friends

9. Little Princess has since learnt she had overdosed and if she see's anyone else passing out, throwing up and definately not ok, she should think very seriously about calling an ambulance. She was lucky it was cocaine, if it was GHB she would have probably died.

Drink spiking can have VERY VERY VERY serious consequences. Please be careful, please take care of yourselves and please don't take shit from clients or agency's you're working for.

Resources weblinks you may want to check out

http://www.thesource.gov.au/drinkspiking/things_you_should_know.htm  AFP

http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?document_id=10440  Vic Police

http://www.casa/org.au   - transfer site link into 'contacts if something happens' for Victoria area too (Vic Sexual Assault Services)

http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=240&np=158&id=2037  Young Adult Health - CHildren, Youth and WOmans Health Service SA  (links to other D&A sites, sexual assault for SA to transfer into Contacts Page)

http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/briefing/b2.html   AIFS / ACSSA  - Briefing Paper

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/reports/2004-11-drinkspiking/foreword.html   AIC - Briefing paper download

http://www.alcoholinfo.nsw.gov.au/preventing_abuse_and_harm/drink_spiking  NSW Health - don't take to seriously because we are yet to meet anyone from Health who can pull their heads far enough out of their arses to accept the truth let alone speak it. Still good propaganda - say the reverse of whatever they say.

http://www.drugarm.com.au/files/pdf/Drink%20Spiking.pdf  Drug Arm - Qld

http://www.reachout.com.au/default.asp?ti=1288  Reach Out - *links to numbers and referrals*