Inktober 52 2024 - Week 26 - 'Aware'

Drank a lot of delicious Guinness whilst in Ireland and the prompt 'aware' came up. And all that popped into mind at first was the whole 'Drink AWARE' thing.

Alcohol causes 1 in 13 breast cancers

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So I've seen a lot of posts floating around on my dash about tips and tricks  for testing to see if your drink has been spiked (nail polish and rings and lipstick tabs huzah!) and while this is really very cool (and the lipsticks are super cute) I do think it is important to highlight one thing that seems to be getting overlooked about drink spiking.

I've worked door security for nearly ten years now and I have honestly lost track of the number of people who have come up to me and said they think that they have had their drinks spiked (not just women this is important to note, men as well).

The thing is, when thinking of drinks spiked, we automatically think of rohypnol or GHB, or any number of illegal drugs on the market. These are the drugs things like the nail polish or the anti-spike bottle caps that were all the rage when I was a teenager are designed to stop or detect. 

The problem is that in 99.7% of the time, their drink has not been spiked with an illegal drug. A stranger slipping something into your drink is, thankfully, not all that common. That is NOT to say it can't and doesn't happen, nor is it to trivialize the importance of awareness or how great it is that we can now get nail polish that changes color if it detects a substance in your drink.

What it does, however, is highlight a very important and often overlooked problem that does not receive the attention it should. Notice how in the above paragraph I said that in 99.7% of the time your drink has not been spiked with an illegal drug? Notice how I didn't just say your drink has not been spiked?

The stranger slipping a pill in your drink is rare. The person you kinda know and is kinda your friend who keeps buying you a drink and gets you doubles instead of singles? And maybe doesn't tell you, or who pressures you into drinking it anyway? That happens all the time. Every night, in every bar. 

Because THE most common substance used to spike drinks is ALCOHOL.

You think you are drinking singles - you're not. 

Your friend brings you a drink - and a shot you never asked for, but you drink it anyway. 

It's hard, when you are having a good time, to keep track of what you consume and that is when people take advantage. 

In all the years I've been working doors, both in major cities and smaller ones, I can count on the one hand the number of times I have dealt with a situation where illegal drugs were used to facilitate an assault. I've lost track of the times I've dealt with a situation where the victim was simply too intoxicated to look after themselves. Who had lost track of their friends or their phone or their wallet, and who later says they didn't think they'd been drinking that much. They had, they just didn't know it. 

So, after seeing all the posts on my dash about all these wonderful tools we have available to help us stay vigilant, I did think it was important to just add a little reminder that the biggest threat involved in drink spiking is the one most frequently overlooked.

I'm not meaning to be all doom and gloom. I'm certainly not saying don't have fun or that it is your fault if you get drunk and don't keep track of what you drink. Not even a little - just the opposite actually. I just want to raise awareness of the problem. 

Wicklow students warned to pace themselves to ‘ace’ Leaving Cert celebrations

With many of this year’s Leaving Cert students poised to start celebrating the end of their exams this weekend, drinkaware.ie is advising students to pace themselves to ensure they ‘ace’ their celebrations.

drinkaware.ie – the alcohol social responsibility organisation – is referring students to their “Leaving Cert (and beyond) Survival Guide”, available online at www.drinkaware.ie/publications/l…

June Bank Holiday Reminder That Alcohol and Swimming Don’t Mix

As the June Bank Holiday approaches and people are tempted to take to Wicklow’s beaches, rivers and lakes for leisure activities, drinkaware.ie is reminding everybody that alcohol and swimming don’t mix.

Alcohol consumption is a contributory factor in nearly a third of all drownings in Ireland each year. Alcohol slows down people’s reaction time, impacts their coordination, and affects their…