Third of people, mostly women, have experience of drink spiking, new Czech survey shows
Drink spiking – adding alcohol or drugs to someone else’s drink without their knowledge – has been a widely unacknowledged phenomenon in Czechia. There were previously no statistics for it, but now the Beat Sexism organisation has published an initial study that reports hundreds of cases of drink spiking in the country.
Beat Sexism is an international organisation based in Prague, which focuses on women's rights issues, documenting cases of sexism, and gender-related discrimination and inequality. Discussions within the Beat Sexism team and with other people raised the topic of drink spiking. A ‘spiked’ drink is one that has had strong alcohol or drugs added to it without the consent or knowledge of the drinker, who may then be vulnerable to sexual assault.
Drink spiking is something of an open secret among women – many have been on the receiving end of it, or have at least been warned to ‘watch their drink’, but not so many have sought to discuss drink spiking in public and to take steps to combat it. When they looked for statistics for spiking in Czechia, the Beat Sexism team found no previous study, and so in 2021 began their own work to collect and record personal experiences. This has led to a full study, the findings of which Beat Sexism have now made public.
Veronika Šimková, the organisation’s Chief Operating Officer, discussed the study:
“Our study is only exploratory so far, because we disseminated it primarily in Prague. It is not yet generalizable nationwide research. However, it already shows that this phenomenon is present in Czechia. If I have to summarise the most important thing that came out of the study, it is that it confirms the presence of this phenomenon in at least hundreds of cases. According to our survey, every third respondent has personal experience of drink spiking.”
The study took the form of a qualitative online questionnaire, distributed online and via posters with QR codes put up at universities and in nightclubs. It involved 336 respondents, 91% percent of whom were women. The findings were that people aged 19-24 have the most experience with drink spiking, while in the 16-18 age group, 33% of respondents reported an experience of it. The most common places of the incident are bars, clubs and pubs, but it can also happen at private parties. Veronika Šimková again:
“It turns out that drink spiking also happens in groups and larger groups of friends. Exactly 64.6% of victims were in a larger group. Unfortunately, a persistent problem is that most cases remain unreported, and victims seek support from loved ones, rather than the police or experts. This is also the reason why the data has not been properly collected so far.”
Real change could come from this study; Beat Sexism are pushing for initiatives that raise awareness of the problem and train bar staff to look out for and prevent cases of spiking. Following the lead of countries like the UK, a change in legislation, which would define drink spiking as a crime, would also help victims to pursue justice.
