Bristol launches anti drink-spiking campaign

By Holly Beaumont, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Bristol-based organisation, Bristol Nights, is launching a campaign with Avon and Somerset Police, Bristol City Council and Bristol City Centre BID, to help tackle drink spiking in Bristol's nightclubs.

Their campaign states, ‘Our objective is to educate Bristol on the procedure of reporting and collecting evidence of drink spiking, to increase the prosecution rates of the people who carry out these crimes’.

Bristol Nights will be distributing drink testing kits across venues in Bristol starting from November 2o21.

In addition, they have compiled a venue guide to ‘Train all the teams across the city’ to enable nightclub workers to detect signs of drink-spiking, as well as know the procedure's of reporting it to the police.

The guide includes information about what symptoms to look for if you suspect a person's drink has been spiked. These include, confusion, nausea, hallucinations, poor coordination and unconsciousness.

The guide also informs about how to act if drink-spiking occurs to ensure the safety of the victim and the greatest possible chance of prosecuting the perpetrator. For example, ‘Drugs can leave the body in as little as 12 hours, so it's important that the individual gets tested quickly’.

The campaign reminds people that the crime of drink-spiking carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years.

The guide outlines three steps to help people act in the event of drink-spiking, advising,  ‘Secure (the drink). Test (the drink). Report (the crime)’.

The campaign is timely, going live ahead of the planned UK-wide boycott of night-clubs tonight (Wednesday 27th October).

Featured Image: Bristol Nights

Will you be observing the boycott?