A Queensland nightclub this week revealed it was using plastic drink lids after fears that the prevalence of drink spiking was on the rise, but a lack of verifiable data has dogged authorities for decades with Queensland police saying they do not keep statistics.
In the UK, heightened concerns prompted a review of drink spiking by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee and the UK's Safeguarding Minister Rachel Maclean told the BBC this week the British government was "not afraid to legislate" to make drink spiking a specific offence.
In Queensland, the offence of Unlawful Drink Spiking is contained in section 316A of the Criminal Code.
The offence came into force on November 10, 2006 and carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Amid the very real and persistent concerns about this problem are its links to sexual assault.
At least one venue in Maroochydore is taking the issue so seriously it now offers plastic drink lids to patrons at cost price to deter spiking.
Maroochydore nightclub manager Jackson De Freitas urged other venue operators to do likewise.
"Although we might see each other as competitors at times, we need to look after people that come on the street," Mr De Freitas told the ABC.
The Queensland Hotels Association declined to comment when asked if it recommended the use of drink lids to all of its members.
How widespread is drink spiking?
The short answer is nobody knows.
Some cases involve the use of illicit drugs to spike drinks, others are thought to simply involve more alcohol.
Researchers consistently decry a lack of reporting.
In a statement, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) said it did not keep statistics in its database relating to incidents of drink spiking.
But QPS said drink spiking could be an enabler for other offences, such as rape or sexual assault, and was "considered a component part of those offences rather than stand-alone drink spiking events".
Police said there were also practical challenges when investigating drink spiking complaints which included the reliance on eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence of a substance in a person's body, which usually dissipated within 72 hours.
"Most victims are not aware of a potential drink spiking episode until the next day and the memory of the victim is usually significantly affected."
Police said once a complaint was made, investigating officers scoured "many hours" of possible CCTV evidence to identify any possible witnesses to then identify an offender who the victim might not know.
In 2004, a National Project on Drink Spiking found there was "no way to determine the exact number of drink spiking incidents" due to "high levels of under-reporting".
The project's report "roughly estimated" that between 3,000 and 4,000 such incidents occurred nationwide between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, and that about one-third of those cases involved sexual assault.
It estimated that fewer than 15 per cent of suspected drink spiking sexual assaults were reported to police — though this was surely no more than educated guesswork.
'Not as prevalent as perceived'
Monash University academic Laura Anderson, who has researched the topic extensively for two papers published in 2017 and 2019, said she believed "covert drug administration" did not happen anywhere near as frequently as suspected.
"My 2019 study into drug-facilitated sexual assault in Victoria suggests that covert drug administration is not as prevalent as is perceived in contemporary culture," she said.
"So there seems to be a trend whereby individuals are unaware of the potential concomitant intoxicating effect of consuming multiple substances at the same time (for example combining marijuana with anti-psychotic medication and alcohol).
"Similarly, it appears the general public aren't well informed of the risks associated with rapid or binge drinking and may become intoxicated much faster, and to a much greater degree, than expected."
Dr Anderson acknowledged that suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) remained "a prominent issue in Australian culture".
"Regardless of whether the alleged DFSA presents as a targeted or covert drug administration or more so as an opportunistic assault on an already intoxicated individual, the data suggests that a proactive psycho-education response from health sectors and other agencies could help to improve the prevalence and impact of this issue."
The problem is, we simply do not know for certain.
"It is well documented that globally, reporting rates of this type of sexual assault are very low," Dr Anderson said.
"So there is potential that the rates of covert drug administration in the context of drug-facilitated sexual assault may be higher than what is able to be recorded and analysed."
Regardless of what is or is not occurring, she says using drink covers offers some psychological benefits.
"It not only provides a physical safety mechanism for drinks, but also acts as a physical prompt for people to be conscious and aware of their drinks," she said.
"In modern Australian culture, where perceptions of drink spiking remain high, there is certainly a responsibility at the individual, venue, and government level to ensure that young people can safely engage in social activities without being placed at risk of harm," Dr Anderson said.
