When I agreed to go to an Irish pub with my friends on a Wednesday night in Madrid, I never imagined that the night would end with us sitting on the street as one of us was throwing up and barely able to walk. Naturally, we just assumed she’d had one too many €1 shots, but as she got progressively worse, it was clear that something else was going on. Earlier that night, she had drinks bought for her by men that she had met, leading us to believe that one of them had tampered with her drink. We’d all been told going into college about the dangers of drink spiking, but none of us knew what to do when it actually happened.
We ended up taking our friend to the emergency room the next day, which is not something I’m proud to say at all. We should have taken her as soon as we knew something was wrong, but we were too overwhelmed and unprepared in that moment. I always assumed that I’d be someone who stayed calm in a dangerous situation, but instead, I was crying and fighting with my friends, completely unsure of the next steps. Here is what I wish my friends and I knew that night:
First, here are some of the signs that you or someone you know has been drugged.
If someone has been drugged, the physical symptoms will probably be the most obvious indicators. These include:
- Having trouble speaking.
- Appearing sedated.
- Stumbling and staggering.
- Having trouble breathing or breathing slowly.
- Having slow reaction times.
- Throwing up.
It’s easy to dismiss these signs as someone just being drunk, so consider how much someone has had to drink that night. If it’s one of your good friends, you probably already know what is normal for them when they’re drunk. When my friend was drugged, she was acting completely different than she’d ever acted when she was drunk.
For the person who was drugged, they can feel these physical symptoms as well as mental symptoms, such as the following:
- Feeling dizzy.
- Feeling fatigued.
- Feeling panicked or anxious.
- Feeling paranoid.
- Having hallucinations.
- Having memory loss the next day.
What to do if you suspect someone has been drugged
If you or a friend is exhibiting these symptoms, it’s important to immediately protect them from potential predators, or if you think you may be drugged, it’s important to find someone you can trust. It’s best to have the victim drink water and then immediately seek medical attention. Roofies and similar drugs can cause permanent damage, especially because they can lead to seizures, so it is vital to get someone who was drugged medical attention immediately. Even if you don’t suspect anything until the next morning, it is still necessary to go to the hospital. Also, if you or someone who has been drugged believes they may have been sexually assaulted, it is incredibly important to receive medical attention. The victim will likely be given fluids and other medications to off-set any effects of the drugs. As well, medical professionals will administer what is called a rape kit test to determine if sexual assault occurred and who the predator was.
As women and even as college students, it’s important to look out for each other. We must watch each other’s drinks, stay by each other’s sides and try our best to avoid unsafe situations. While I do regret not taking my friend to the hospital the night she was drugged, I am grateful that we were able to keep her away from the men who drugged her and get her to the emergency room the next day. Going out shouldn’t be a scary experience, but unfortunately, that’s not something we can always control. All we can do is look out for each other. Hopefully, you never find yourself in a similar situation, but if you do, you now have the tools to stay safe.