A young woman who reported she was the victim of a spiking incident was unable to access testing to corroborate her experience after presenting at a Melbourne hospital.
Amelia, 25, who has chosen not to use her real name to protect her privacy, told the ABC she became unwell after attending a Melbourne nightclub in August and ended up in hospital on the same night.
She reported the incident to police, who were investigating if she could have been the victim of a needle-spiking incident.
Victoria Police has now closed its case, it said in part due to the lack of available medical evidence.
The alleged spiking incident was reported after a woman attended this Northcote nightclub. (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)
Amelia’s case highlights how rare it is for spiking reports to be substantiated by authorities. Available police data in Australia and overseas shows very few cases proceed to the courts or result in a conviction.
Drink spiking is the act of adding alcohol or drugs to a person’s drink without consent.
Needle or injection spiking — administering a drug with a needle without consent — is a phenomenon which has attracted significant media interest in recent years, particularly in the United Kingdom.
Experts caution against common misconceptions about spiking
While experts said stories like Amelia’s were credible and concerning, they also told the ABC there were misconceptions about drink and needle spiking in the community.
They warned that disproportionate media attention on the issue could create fear and cause people to overestimate the risk of spiking happening to them.
Here are some important things to know before you keep reading.
- Experts said the frequency of drink and needle spiking was overestimated by the community, in part because it was over-reported on by the media, with needle spiking in particular thought to be very rare
- Research has found it is most commonly alcohol used in spiking, not illicit drugs
- While there are testing limitations, drugs like GHB and other sedatives, often referred to as “date-rape” drugs in media reports, were rarely detected in spiking studies
- Data shows sexual assaults more frequently occur at a home with someone you know, rather than a stranger at a public venue like a club, even when intoxication is involved
There are limitations to available research about drink and needle spiking, with some victims choosing not to report it to police or access testing.
This means data that tries to establish how common spiking is, including data from police, may not be reliable.
Alcohol is by far the most common substance involved in drink spiking, researchers say. (Unsplash: Michael Discenza)
Victoria Police said there was “no evidence” needle spiking was occurring in Victoria.
Police in Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory said they were not aware of any reports of needle spiking.
Police in South Australia and Queensland said discrepancies in how the offence was categorised meant they could not say if it was being reported.
There have been several media reports of alleged needle spiking incidents in New South Wales and Queensland.
In NSW, crime statistics data shows a jump in reports to police of “assault with syringe” offences recorded at licensed venues (clubs or pubs) since mid-2021, but of 24 reports only one was pursued by police.
Overseas, Scottish police failed to find any evidence to support 150 needle spiking reports made between 2021 and 2022.
Amelia felt a sharp pain in her back before becoming unwell
While police data suggests needle spiking is extremely rare or not happening at all, Amelia’s experience shows that — even in a hospital setting — it is difficult to get access to kinds of testing that could help prove a spiking incident has happened or build a case against an alleged perpetrator.
In August, Amelia attended a Northcote nightclub with a close friend.
Shortly after they arrived, just after midnight, Amelia felt a sharp pain in her back, and said to her friend Alex “I think I felt a needle in my back”.
After that, Amelia was feeling “really strange” – she and Alex decided to leave the club about 90 minutes after they arrived.
In her police statement, seen by ABC, Amelia described how her legs “felt numb and weak” and then how once they left the club, she “lost consciousness” and could no longer move her legs.
The 24 Moons nightclub provided CCTV to police following the spiking allegation. (ABC News: Tara Whitchurch)
Her friend Alex said while Amelia could still talk at first, her speech started slurring.
“She was going in and out, she was dazed,” Alex said.
Believing she had been the victim of a needle spiking, the pair decided to go to hospital and reported it to police in the days following the incident.
When she got to Royal Melbourne Hospital, Amelia said she was put in a wheelchair and breathalysed and blew 0.027, below the legal driving limit (0.05).
She said the hospital monitored her blood pressure and heart rate.
But she was not offered any further testing (blood, saliva or urine) to see what she may have been spiked with – instead being told by a nurse that kind of testing was “too expensive.”
“I thought there would be something they can do to see what has happened to me as I had no idea what was in my system, it could’ve been anything,” Amelia said.
Amelia said with no testing available, she eventually chose to leave the hospital without being admitted.
“They just couldn’t do anything to help us. I wanted to be home and safe, I didn’t want to be there,” she said.
La Trobe University drink spiking researcher Jessica Ison said it was common that alleged spiking victims – like Amelia – ended up leaving hospital after being told they could not access relevant testing.
“By that point, you’re traumatised, you’re coming off whatever drugs [or alcohol] have been administered to you … you’re just going to go home,” Dr Ison said.
Victorian emergency departments not resourced to test all patients who report spiking, hospitals say
Experts told the ABC the lack of testing for alleged spiking victims at emergency departments was not a reflection on whether clinicians believed their story, but of the availability and cost of testing and its relevance to patient clinical care.
Royal Melbourne Hospital said it could not comment on individual cases, but a spokesperson told the ABC:
“There are currently no viable tests available to determine what substance may have been used in a suspected needle-spiking incident or that can provide real-time information to help in making clinical decisions about a patient’s care.”
Health staff say the tests to detect substance use for people who report spiking are expensive and specialised. (Supplied: ACT Policing)
The ABC contacted several other major Melbourne hospitals – those which responded expressed concern about drink and needle spiking presentations but acknowledged testing alleged victims was rare.
The Sunshine Hospital’s emergency medicine director Rob Melvin said it was difficult to test spiking victims without knowing what to test for.
“Given the number of legal and illegal substances that may have been used in a possible drink or needle spiking episode, and new substances appearing all the time, there is no single, easily-available test that is used when a patient presents to emergency,” he said.
“Urine drug-screen testing for possible drink spiking has some benefits, however the results often take 24 hours to come back and so are often not helpful in the emergency department.”
Emergency health practitioners say hospital workers are focused on a patient’s clinical care, not collecting evidence. (Supplied: Alfred Hospital)
A spokesperson for the Northern Hospital said drink-spiking cases were “very rare” and most cases who presented were clinically well but anxious and in need of information.
“Victorian public hospitals do not test blood or urine for the presence of drugs in cases of reported drink spiking where the patient is clinically well,” the spokesperson said.
Toxicology testing for people who report spiking could reduce psychological impacts
UK junior doctor Tess Blandamer is the author of one of only a handful of published peer-reviewed papers on needle spiking.
In it, she argues that even though it is expensive, toxicology testing could help minimise the psychological impacts of needle spiking, which can include self-blame, guilt or fear.
She told the ABC she became interested in the area after a surge of young women – her own demographic — began reporting suspected drink/needle spiking incidents in the UK in 2021 while she was working in the emergency department of a hospital in Bristol.
Tess Blandamer began researching spiking after a surge of young women began reporting it in the UK. ( Supplied: Tess Blandamer)
She said even though many of those women, like Amelia, had convincing stories, understanding the scale of the problem was difficult.
“It is difficult to gauge the size of the issue of spiking because of under-reporting and confirmatory testing, which is why I believe more research and funding is urgently needed to investigate and support victims of drink and injection spiking,” she said.
“Serum [blood] testing would help to reduce harmful psychological impacts, provide diagnostic certainty and generate a better understanding of the problem on a public health scale, so I personally believe it is something that needs further research,” Dr Blandamer said.
However, Austin Health emergency physician and clinical toxicologist Shaun Greene said the priority for emergency physicians should remain the immediate care of the patient.
Doctor Shaun Greene says testing for people who report spiking is expensive. (ABC Melbourne: Kristian Silva)
“If there’s a test that’s required that will influence the care of that patient, then the nurse and the doctor should absolutely do it,” he said.
But he said for a patient who felt unwell but was clinically assessed as having normal observations, the testing required was too expensive, would not change the patient’s treatment and may not return any positive results.
“Spending potentially thousands of dollars on testing for illicit substances … that would not be a good use of money for the healthcare system,” he said.
“The unavailability of a test does not mean we do not care.”
If the point of testing was to collect evidence, Dr Greene said that was the role for police and forensic investigators.
Police in charge of testing for evidence purposes
In Victoria and most other states, forensic testing (testing to collect evidence for a possible legal case) is guided by police.
Victoria Police work in partnership with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), who have the testing expertise.
After an alleged crime has been reported to police, officers from VIFM can attend a hospital for testing, but the ABC understands this capacity is limited and reserved for situations where serious crimes, like a sexual assault, has taken place.
Police can make bookings for people at the VIFM or advise them to see their own doctor, but in spiking cases where timely testing (within 24 hours or less ideally) is critical these options may not be suitable.
Dimitri Gerostamoulos is the VIFM’s chief toxicologist and head of forensic services.
He said there was currently no system in Victoria which would allow an emergency doctor to order a urine or blood test for a spiking victim that could then be referred to VIFM for analysis.
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine has a specialised laboratory in Melbourne. (774 ABC Melbourne: Simon Leo Brown)
He said this was a gap that the government was aware of, but the institute also did not currently have the capacity to analyse samples from a large number of drink-spiking cases.
“It is an issue that needs addressing – it involves the co-operation of physicians, clinical staff, police and forensic laboratories,” he said.
He said in Western Australia, a trial providing specialised testing kits at Perth police stations was attempting to bridge the testing gap for people who report spiking.
In a statement, a Victorian government spokesperson said it was appropriate that tests for people who reported spiking be undertaken “at a hospital or at a GP”, but indicated it was a matter for individual hospitals.
“The decision to perform a blood test or conduct forensic testing of a patient’s blood is a clinical decision based on the judgement of the treating doctor or at the request of police,” the government spokesperson said.
The WA drink-spiking test kits will be able to test for more than 600 substances. (ABC News: Kenith Png)
In a statement, the management team of the nightclub where the alleged spiking was reported said it was “deeply concerned” by the incident.
The 24 Moons nightclub said it was the first time such a report had been made at the venue.
The club said it had shared its security footage with police and had recently invested significantly in expanding its CCTV systems, including spending an additional $3,000 to improve camera coverage since the incident.
Amelia said she thought she “did all the right things” by attending hospital and reporting the incident to police, but felt nothing had come from it.
“Even if the cops had found evidence on the CCTV, they didn’t have the supporting evidence in the toxicology reports to actually support anything I said as the hospital refused to test me,” she said.
While she has recovered well physically, the incident has left her feeling unsafe in club spaces.
She described the whole process as “really frustrating”.
“It’s a pretty powerless feeling,” she said.
Data shows women are more at risk from sexual assault from someone they know, rather than a stranger at a nightclub. (Unsplash: Danny Lines)
Spiking researcher Dr Ison said while drink and needle spiking happened and the impacts could be significant, it is only in rare cases that it was perpetrated by “a stranger at a nightclub.”
“I think the vast majority of needle spiking cases would be someone who’s already using intravenous drugs and has someone change what they’re taking without their knowledge, but that woman’s story never gets told,” she said.
