The Drink Detective tests for virtually all the drink spiking drugs. These include GHB, ketamine and the more than 60 drugs in the benzodiazepine group that includes Rohypnol, Xanax and Valium.

The Drink Detective, in a matchbook format, has three spots, one for each of the tests. The ketamine and GHB tests show a chemical, colour reaction. The benzodiazepine test is an immunoassay—like a pregnancy test.

No one expects a woman (or a man—men account for 15% of drug rapes in the UK) to test every drink. In fact, we recommend using the Drink Detective only in two circumstances: if you have a reason to suspect that you need a test for drink spiking drugs or if you have a stronger than expected reaction to a drink. The drink spiking drugs take about 20 minutes to incapacitate you and if you find that a drink has been spiked, you would have time to get help—either from a friend or from bar staff who could call the police and ensure that you were not left alone until you got to safety. There are many more crimes carried out requiring tests for drink spiking drugs. About a month ago a woman was arrested in London for drugging men’s drinks and then taking their wallets and watches. We have had reports from all over the world of men getting drugged and returning home to later find that hundreds of dollars was taken—by them—from cash machines. The victims have no recollection of the withdrawals (which are often captured on tape) or to whom they gave the money.

You can find on this site a Guardian article that describes the scope of the drink spiking problem in the UK. It reports that one in four female drinkers have been spiked at least once with drink spiking drugs and clearly would have benefited from a test for them. Whether or not you accept their data, it is clear that the use of drink spiking drugs is a serious and growing problem. The problem is exacerbated in the US by police frustration. It is very difficult not only to convict someone for using drink-spiking drugs; it is tough even to show that a crime took place. Moreover, it is enormously expensive to do a complete urine test for an alleged victim of drink spiking drugs. And the test would mostly come out negative even if the victim had been drugged because most drugs leave the system very quickly. So it is not surprising that some police forces would choose to concentrate on other crimes—all of which have higher conviction rates. It seems that the only way to reduce drink spiking is through deterrence achieved by scaring the would-be criminal.

The Drink Detective makers are in the midst of a campaign not only to sell product but, more important, to promote public awareness of the problems of drink spiking. To that end they have created three really striking posters that could be put up anywhere drinks are served. They say

• You can’t identify a Drug Rapist… but you can avoid him
• Focus on your drink…avoid the need for a test for Drink Spiking Drugs
• I only left me drink for a moment… the rest of the night was a blur.

We hope that as more and more bars carry these or other, similar, posters and more and more drinkers carry the Drink Detective, the risk will slowly but inexorably move from the drinker to the spiker.

We can’t stress enough that the use of drink spiking drugs is a crime that the police cannot solve. With the best will in the world, the police simply cannot catch more than a handful of people who spike drinks. The very few who do get caught are apprehended because they do something stupid—like making videos of their rapes. Moreover, simple awareness will help but it will not be completely effective. It is simply too easy to put something into your drink—no matter how vigilant you are. Deterrence—using a test for drink spiking drugs, not arrests and convictions, is the key to solving crimes involving drink spiking drugs.

We have are developing a deterrence program for clubs and bars. We will make available a package that includes the following:
• A number of Drink Detectives
• The three posters just mentioned
• A sticker that says “The Drink Detective Operates Here”
• A new poster that says
THIS IS A ZERO TOLERANCE ZONE FOR DRINK SPIKING DRUGS
DRINKS WILL BE RANDOMLY TESTED
IF YOU WERE PLANNING TO SPIKE A DRINK HERE, THINK AGAIN: YOU WILL GET CAUGHT

We propose that the largest, most imposing bar staff member in a bar test just a few drinks on random nights—with considerable publicity. Once the word gets around that this is being done, and together with the message in the last poster, very few of the cowards who currently USE drink spiking drugs (risk-free) would try it again. The risk would be greater for them than for the innocent drinker.

We are also working with some police forces to carry out similar random checks.