Investigation launched after 200 students report their drinks were spiked in Bournemouth clubs

8:00am Saturday 20th October 2012 in Latest By Julie Magee and Stephen Bailey

SPIKE: An investigation has been launched SPIKE: An investigation has been launched

AN INVESTIGATION is being launched after claims that 200 students reported their drinks being ‘spiked’ in Bournemouth pubs and clubs in one week.

Two victims were reported to have needed hospital treatment and a health official has called for measures to safeguard young people living in or visiting the resort.

In email correspondence to council and public health officers, Karen Wood, joint commissioning manager for Bournemouth Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT), said around 200 new students had reported ‘incidences of spiking’ during the week preceding the annual Fresher’s Fair.

The DAAT team’s alarming findings came following conversations with students attending the fair at Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus on Saturday, September 29.

Ms Wood said: “This is a worrying amount of incidences and, in a couple of cases, individuals needed to be hospitalised.

“Could I suggest that as council officers and officers interested in a public health prospective we get together to look at preventative measures that could be taken to safeguard the young people visiting or resident of Bournemouth.”

In a statement later, Ms Wood added: “We take all claims of this nature seriously and we are currently co-ordinating a meeting with relevant departments across the council, the NHS and police.”

Town centre councillor David Smith, inset, was among those who received the email. He said: “This is extremely concerning and a sorry state of affairs. I would warn young people not to leave their drinks unattended; they should be very careful.

“It’s almost as if someone is deliberately doing this and the message needs to get out that drinks are being spiked, on this sort of scale. I would urge pubs and clubs to examine their CCTV footage.”

Bournemouth University spokesman James Donald said he was surprised by the DAAT figures while Students’ Union President Louise Bryant said: “Since the anecdotal evidence was brought to our attention that students had reported drink spiking during the Arrivals period in Bournemouth, we have obviously been concerned and have conducted our own enquiries into this issue.

“We have had no reports of this directly affecting our students, but will continue to emphasise to them how to stay safe when out in Bournemouth.

A Dorset police spokeswoman said students receive information about the threat of spiked drinks from Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

They said additional events are being planned for students with the Operation Protect campaign offering crucial advice for nights out in Bournemouth.

If It Happens To You DAAT has issued advice to prevent drinks being spiked:

  • Never leave drinks unattended.
  • Do not accept a drink from a stranger.
  • If you suspect your drink has been ‘spiked’ tell someone you trust immediately.
  • Go to a safe place such as home or hospital if you are feeling

Comments(39)

ashleycross says...
8:58am Sat 20 Oct 12

Unfortunately the large numbers of care homes in the area staffed by poorly paid unqualified temporary staff means access to medication prescribed for care home residents but worth a fortune on the substantial black market is very straightforward

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Alumchiner says...
9:31am Sat 20 Oct 12

Is it me or does this just not add up - 200 people effected in different venue's across the town ? Were the people involved part of a organised team with operatives in separate places ? I wonder if they just had too much drink and were sick ?
It appears that the proof of this is that the students mentioned it when they were being asked questions when attending a fair.......hardly proof that its going on ........I dont want to ridicule the story or the importance of being observant but its highly unlikely that 200 students were poisoned as its reported.

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News reader says...
9:55am Sat 20 Oct 12

If it's true, then it's very worrying.

However, I suspect that students have possibly confused how much they have drunk and the bad effects afterwards with "spiked" drinks.

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Old Colonial says...
9:58am Sat 20 Oct 12

News reader wrote:
If it's true, then it's very worrying.

However, I suspect that students have possibly confused how much they have drunk and the bad effects afterwards with "spiked" drinks.
Which could be an encouraging sign that they have got to their age without having overdone it!

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simcal says...
10:02am Sat 20 Oct 12

Story is a load of tosh. The logistics to actually do it on that scale would mean a large number of people carrying out the spiking. What would they gain? I want to read news not crap.

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Reader Echo says...
10:38am Sat 20 Oct 12

It would be interesting to know what the drinks are being spiked with? This may give some indication of the alleged perpetrators intension. Are we talking a group of people that maliciously spike drinks on mass with a Rohypnol type drug. If so we could be seeing bodies crashed out twenty or so minutes after ingesting with a good dose. A pattern of this happening in the same venue on the same night would soon be picked up by the police and medical authorities quite easily. Another instance could be an amorous male plying a would be sexual partner with Ecstasy, however it would be hard to drop that into a drink unnoticed as it would not readily dissolve and give a nasty taste. I am sure that there may be many other substances that could be used as well.

I think that alcohol alone may be responsible for many if not the majority of the two hundred cases reported. It is well known that many younger people drink until they fall, just take a look in the town centre on any weekend. I also feel that ‘I had my drink spiked’ can just be something to blame someone’s embarrassing behaviour on the next day.

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mpdor says...
11:10am Sat 20 Oct 12

It’s almost as if someone is deliberately doing this " says David smith the town centre councillor, what planet is this man on? of course its delibrate, you dont accidently spike a persons drink,

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Tom 'Boscombe' Jones says...
11:39am Sat 20 Oct 12

Students in freshers week, living away from home for the first time and relatively unused to drinking vast amounts, go out in Bournemouth town centre where they are encouraged to drink stupid amounts at ridiculously cheap prices, then go on to say, after leading questions, that they believed they were spiked. This is tabloid journalism, do proper research not anecdotal evidence. Would you put a headline out that there was a mass swine flu epidemic based on a few hundred people reporting sniffles at the onset of winter?

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Buddles says...
11:52am Sat 20 Oct 12

I agree with "Reader Echo".

The amount of cheap, chemical based "shots" with wacky names that are ingested by youngsters on a night out is quite shocking and yes, they will drink until they fall over. Seem to be OK in the club/pub then go outside and BAM!....goodnight Vienna.

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elite50 says...
11:58am Sat 20 Oct 12

This is about Uni students, right?
They are supposedly getting their drinks spiked.
Well, if they were taught at uni to not "hang back" when it was their turn to buy a drink, this would not be a problem.
All of the uni students that I used to hang around with in my youth always made sure that they were the last to "shout", hoping that a few in the group had had enough.
All of the apprentices in our group got sick of listening to the "poor" cries from these creeps.
When they got their degrees we never saw these freeloaders again.
They are getting their drinks spiked?
If they bought their own it would not happen!

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_mooch_ says...
1:08pm Sat 20 Oct 12

im sorry, but nobody is going to give 200 mind altering drugs away for nothing

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Adrian XX says...
1:21pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I'm pretty certain this is simply ethanol intoxication. For the 200 reports, there is not even a single laboratory test?!

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Lord gungedin of Ferndown says...
3:36pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Absolute rubbish!

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Bournefre says...
4:54pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I suppose as always the 'solution' is to bump up the price even higher because £4/£5 a drink is apparently 'ridiculously cheap', then of course the students will drink less.
Either that or instead of buying their own drinks, vulnerable drunken young girls will go around begging for drinks from strangers and stealing unguarded drinks from tables - a practice known as 'minesweeping'.
Maybe £10 a drink would be a better price, then the extra money could be used to fund uniformed bear patrols to keep the town centre safe and free from bear attacks.

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Buddles says...
5:20pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Back in my day, students (in their spare time) preferred sitting around on bean bags, surrounded by joss sticks and getting stoned listening to Yes and The Edgar Broughton Band.
Nowadays it's all about "Carnage", drinking 'til you drop and wearing totally inappropriate clothing (or lack of) for what is considered a jolly good night out.

How times change!

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fairlylocal says...
7:01pm Sat 20 Oct 12

_mooch_ wrote:
im sorry, but nobody is going to give 200 mind altering drugs away for nothing
Away for nothing? You're right, they wouldn't... that's why it's called date rape.

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homerjsimpson1979 says...
7:16pm Sat 20 Oct 12

200 date rape cases!!!??

Yeah ok.. If it was true Sky News and all the others would be all over the town.

Looks like a few students had a little too much to drink!!

Well done the echo.. Another cracking story!!

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_mooch_ says...
7:52pm Sat 20 Oct 12

fairlylocal wrote:
_mooch_ wrote:
im sorry, but nobody is going to give 200 mind altering drugs away for nothing
Away for nothing? You're right, they wouldn't... that's why it's called date rape.
are you telling me that 200 peoples drinks were spiked by a rape drug ?

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mj34 says...
8:10pm Sat 20 Oct 12

what a load of ......... people dont go round spiking loads of drinks at this scale now do they ?????? i dont even think much spiking even goes on , people tend t keep ther drugs for them and ther friends , i would think !!!

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ifordcherry says...
8:39pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I think my Crabbies ginger ale was spiked and i am not even a student !!
How bad do i feel ??

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corozin says...
11:07pm Sat 20 Oct 12

An official has been quoted as saying measures are needed to safeguard young people.

Bloody marvellous. My dog could have come up with that. Has "the official" got any practical ideas on how you stop someone spiking a drink except holding your glass a little more attentively?

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gary1975 says...
5:12am Sun 21 Oct 12

I think the echo should have just printed a warning and some guidelines on how to stay safe. It's strange no evidence is referenced? Surely blood tests would have confirmed if drugs were in their system? This seems to be a very weak reactionary article. I worked in a local student night club and saw many many young girls walking around the streets in a daze because they were drunk. Often when asked if they were ok they said someone has spiked my drink.... Its kind of immature but thats just how they are. I'm not saying this is what has happened here but if 200 people have been "spiked" local police would have set up a task force by now! and more than 2 people would have needed hospital. Imagine the cost of spiking 200 drinks from black market drugs? very difficult for an individual or a group to afford. scaremongering shaky article......

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AFCBtree says...
8:34am Sun 21 Oct 12

The two students that got hospitalised then...did they not find out what was in there system? Or didnt bother to check? And thats probably because they didnt find anything other than excessive alcohol in there system. These students just drink until they fall, this is our future generation, pretty scary to think really! And the police, health officials,etc are either very gullabe or niave go believe that this really happened, how sad they are haha.

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elite50 says...
11:51am Sun 21 Oct 12

Buddles wrote:
Back in my day, students (in their spare time) preferred sitting around on bean bags, surrounded by joss sticks and getting stoned listening to Yes and The Edgar Broughton Band.
Nowadays it's all about "Carnage", drinking 'til you drop and wearing totally inappropriate clothing (or lack of) for what is considered a jolly good night out.

How times change!
Back in your day the students had as much spare time as they do now (lots).
They were, are, and always will be a bunch of deadbeats with their hands out.
Reality arrives when they join the real world and have to EARN a living.
Most of the time you could not tell whether they were stoned or just acting normal!

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polblagger says...
3:56pm Sun 21 Oct 12

I'm afraid I'm with many other people here in thinking that the students drinks were most likely spiked with the new designer drug 'alcohol'.

Side affects include dizziness, nausea and slurred speech.

After several hours this changes to a terrible headache, dehydration and an aversion to loud noise. Doctors say this is an carry on or over hang of symptoms from the drug use, known in clinical circles simply as 'the hangover'.

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O'Reilly says...
4:03pm Sun 21 Oct 12

I usually find that a beer mat over my pint of Topless Totty blond beer whilst visiting the 'jacks' does the trick.

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TheDistrict says...
4:38pm Sun 21 Oct 12

If drugs are involved then this would have been issued earlier to many students, who then self administered at the Halls or digs party before moving on to the town centre much later in the evvening.
.
as said above, this amount would not have been used with some sort of financial gain.
.

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runravedave says...
5:35pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Will whoever is responsible for the well being of drinkers in all responsible establishments issue and distribute drug and tampar drink lollipops out.
This is a indicater device which indentifies if drinks av been drugged or spiked?

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runravedave says...
5:42pm Sun 21 Oct 12

There is aome individuals also who do not understand the effects that drinking and taking medication together as a combined influence on ones health,like antibiotics,steroids for medical reasons,epilepsy medications,cold & flu remidies etc so much that a mindless minority are just ignorent to say the least and ignore these facts just to be socially getting as they say wasted.

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georgina dean says...
6:44pm Sun 21 Oct 12

oh these 'poor' hardup students who can afford to go clubbing and demand discounts at hairdressers shops and the like......try being a pensioner....I have no empathy with these students who , half the time, dont study and use the name 'student' as an excuse to get drink and make a complete nuisance of themselves...The universities should stop these people at the university gates encouraging them to go to cheap boozers etc...they are there every day as i pass....

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Dibbles2 says...
7:04pm Sun 21 Oct 12

This happenes every year and its stupid and irresonsible little girls a majority of the time who state they have been spiked because they embarrass themselves in front of their new buddies. Having worked the town centre for 20 odd years it was common place and cause emergency services untold problems picking them up off the floor and wasting time with these allegations! Karen Wood is trying to jump on the bandwagon to up the amount of clients at the drug services who are failing miserably with the heroin addicts that adorn our streets. pullin 200 students give them a chat on drug issues and discharge them as successful outcomes in figures that are fiddled to suit the DAAT. Perhaps the echo should look into this!!!!!!!

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Dibbles2 says...
7:16pm Sun 21 Oct 12

runravedave wrote:
Will whoever is responsible for the well being of drinkers in all responsible establishments issue and distribute drug and tampar drink lollipops out.
This is a indicater device which indentifies if drinks av been drugged or spiked?
Who will pay for these? If students arent prepared to pay for their own then why should other people pay for them?

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Dibbles2 says...
7:22pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Bournefre wrote:
I suppose as always the 'solution' is to bump up the price even higher because £4/£5 a drink is apparently 'ridiculously cheap', then of course the students will drink less.
Either that or instead of buying their own drinks, vulnerable drunken young girls will go around begging for drinks from strangers and stealing unguarded drinks from tables - a practice known as 'minesweeping'.
Maybe £10 a drink would be a better price, then the extra money could be used to fund uniformed bear patrols to keep the town centre safe and free from bear attacks.
LOL very true and great comment. Alas they are not purchasing these drinks in the clubs as they take their own or get tanked up before hand! Hence why they are slaughtered 10 mins after getting into clubs.

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Dorset Logic says...
4:00pm Mon 22 Oct 12

I believe that students are the cause of all of today's troubles and they should be arrested. I don't think that my generation have pushed up house prices, had all the best pensions and taken all the money in a selfish way at all and we are not judgemental as you can see from the comments above.

Yours

Brigadier Fortescue - Torture Camp - Smyth (Dec'd)

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Letcommonsenseprevail says...
8:34pm Mon 22 Oct 12

News reader wrote:
If it's true, then it's very worrying.

However, I suspect that students have possibly confused how much they have drunk and the bad effects afterwards with "spiked" drinks.
Yeah, sorry Dad for getting arrested for being an arse and you getting called out at 4am to pick me up from the cop shop with a traffic cone stuck on my head - but it wasn't my fault - somebody spiked my drink...........

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Letcommonsenseprevail says...
8:35pm Mon 22 Oct 12

_mooch_ wrote:
im sorry, but nobody is going to give 200 mind altering drugs away for nothing
Not unless their mind had been altered ............

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Letcommonsenseprevail says...
8:36pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Which club was this ? I want in !!!!

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Letcommonsenseprevail says...
8:36pm Mon 22 Oct 12

Dorset Logic wrote:
I believe that students are the cause of all of today's troubles and they should be arrested. I don't think that my generation have pushed up house prices, had all the best pensions and taken all the money in a selfish way at all and we are not judgemental as you can see from the comments above.

Yours

Brigadier Fortescue - Torture Camp - Smyth (Dec'd)
Bloody students.

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fififi12 says...
12:48am Wed 24 Oct 12

Whether 200 drinks were spiked, Whether 200 people 'think' their drinks were spiked
This survey shows we need to do something to tackle excess drinking, particularly in young people, in this town.
I don't know what the answer is, but all these people who just say 'I want to read news not crap' and 'absolute rubbish' need to realise the real issue here, need to realise that it is an issue that is important to Bournemouth, and help to become part of the solutions

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