As promised, here's the second part of my look at the myth of drink spiking. Last time, we saw that the idea that drink-spiking is a widespread problem is a myth, with the evidence showing that in fact in the vast majority of cases where people believe their drinks have been spiked, this simply isn't the case - the symptoms they experience have been down to alcohol poisoning. In this post, we'll look at the reasons why this myth has become so widespread, as discussed in Burgess et al's "Embodying Uncertainty?: Understanding Heightened Risk Perception of Drink 'Spiking'" [1].

Their study found that those students showing a high degree of concern about drink spiking were almost exclusively female. To explain this, they propose a two-pronged explanation based on the hundreds of in-depth interviews they conducted:

"A need to explain feelings of vulnerability associated with ‘big nights’ may well impel young female students to assimilate the discourse of drink-spiking awareness, whilst the desire to find a way of framing the masculine practice of binge-drinking in feminine terms may well make the same discourse particularly appealing."

Their questioning of female university students revealed a great deal of anxiety about the drinking culture in universities, in particular the problem of being drunk while exposed to the 'false intimacy' of events like Fresher parties, or 'Flirt nights'.

In the UK interviews, female first-year students commonly saw nights out as risky affairs,
and often implied — although rarely conceded — that alcohol introduced an element of uncertainty into an already difficult social situation.

'Rarely conceded' is the key point, and in fact the interviews conducted showed what can only be described as denialism over drinking, as the following fascinating discussion describes:

Interviewee: I’m always quite precautionary, ’ cos when you’re drunk you’ve got to be, you can’t ... you’ve always got to be aware of things. But I think there is always [the threat of drink-spiking] in the back of your mind now. And I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, it just means you’re more cautious ... it’s a slight paranoia. I mean, I wouldn’t get paranoid to the extent that it ruins a night, but it’s a concern. Especially because I don’t really drink bottled drinks ... I mean, you don’t always want to carry [your drink] around everywhere but, really, that’s inevitable .... Like, before, in the Venue you could leave your drinks and go for a dance. But not so much now. I only leave [my drink] with friends, but even then … [hesitates].

Interviewer: You wouldn’t leave it with a friend?

Interviewee: No, I do trust my friends, I don’t know why I said that...

What is interesting about this conversation, beyond the student’s marked level of distrust, is that concern about alcohol is quickly elided by concern about drink-spiking. Alcohol makes it necessary to be cautious, this young woman suggests, but it is the more specific threat of DFSA — of a drink being spiked rather than the drink itself — that becomes the focus of attention.

Whilst a few students give up drinking altogether, most continue to drink and increasing numbers drink heavily, and, for those in the last two categories — the drinking majority — alcohol is deemed to be less of a problem than drink-spiking. In fact, often, in US respondents’ accounts of suspected drink-spiking incidents, rhere was a distinctly defensive view negating the role of alcohol in producing the events or symptoms. This was accomplished either by identifying symptoms with a specific drink (n = 21) rather than ‘drinking’ or by including information about how little alcohol the victim had consumed (n = 12).

Interestingly, respondents apparently felt the need to address the contribution of alcohol in their stories, but this was often to deny its role. As the authors remark: "There appears to be widespread disbelief, or active denial, that excess alcohol could cause the same incoherence, physical distress and incapacity associated with ‘date rape’ drugs."

Why the denialism? Because of the immense pressure students feel to drink. Indeed, respondents suggested that it was "almost impossible' not to drink, and described "unrelenting pressure", as one response highlights:

"Before every night out there’s a drinking circle at the bar .... And last night I couldn’t go ... and this morning I had loads of text messages saying ‘where were you? It’s terrible, you’re a Fresher, you should be out’. Now I don’t drink that much, but it’s definitely seen as a bonding thing, like the Freshers should get to know the Seniors by going out and drinking .... There are a few people who don’t really drink in the club, and after a while they’ve been forced into doing it. Like I’ve been offered a drink, and when I said ‘No’ I’ve been given very funny looks... "

In other words, there is a deep conflict here. On the one hand, female students in particular describe feelings of vulnerability associated with nights out that involve heavy drinking; but on the other intense peer pressure prevents them from addressing the real cause of the problem. The authors suggest that "'Drink-spiking awareness' ... might perform just such a role."

Before I conclude, it's important to make clear that the mugging, assault or rape of an intoxicated individual is the responsibility of the mugger, attacker or rapist, and the state of their victim in no way absolves them of guilt. In fact in my opinion it makes the crime that much more cynical. Being drunk does not mean you should take the blame when somebody takes advantage of your state to commit a crime against you.

However, we have to confront a culture in which young women and men are abusing alcohol to the extent that they are losing all control over their actions and their situation. Town centres on a Saturday night are like war zones, and it's only thanks to heavy policing at a huge cost to taxpayers that the results of this aren't even worse than they already are in terms of violence, medical problems, and sexual assault.

Alcohol abuse in Britain and elsewhere is at epidemic proportions, and it's something that we seem to be in deep denial about. When something goes wrong on a night out we'll blame spiking, our mood, our friends, anything but the drink itself. The myth of the date rape drug is in many ways a construct of our cultural denial of the harm that alcohol is causing. In many ways, the same denial contributed to Professor Nutt's sacking as he dared to question the idea that alcohol and tobacco are somehow more acceptable than drugs like cannabis or ecstacy.

Don't tell us we're drinking to much; we don't want to hear it.

[1] Burgess, A., Donovan, P., & Moore, S. (2009). Embodying Uncertainty?: Understanding Heightened Risk Perception of Drink 'Spiking' British Journal of Criminology, 49 (6), 848-862 DOI: 10.1093/bjc/azp049