Drink spiking

Licensees are responsible for providing a safe venue for customers. That includes watching out for drink spiking.

What is drink spiking?

Drink spiking is when someone adds alcohol or drugs to another person’s drink without their knowledge or consent.

It is against the law and can lead to serious crimes such as sexual violence or robbery.

Penalties for drink spiking include fines and jail-time.

It is important to have procedures to prevent drink spiking.

For example, licensees can:

make sure staff have the required Responsible Service of Alcohol training
train bar staff on how to identify incidents and respond when they happen
make sure staff have accredited first aid training for emergencies.
display posters to remind customers and staff to watch for suspicious behaviour.

Staff can:

monitor customers and report to the manager or police any suspicious or concerning behaviour.
be careful not to sell alcohol in a way that leads to rapid drinking.
be aware of unusual drink orders (for example, beer with a shot of vodka, double or triple shots) and who is ordering what. You may decide to refuse extra shots or alcohol mixing.
decline requests to add alcohol to another person’s drink.
collect unattended drinks and let customers know you do this for their safety.

If an incident happens:

get the victim to a safe, quiet place and stay with them
talk to them to see how you can help
find out if they are with a trusted friend who can look after them or if you can call someone they trust
call an ambulance and police if needed
organise safe transport home, and if someone offers to take them make sure they really are a friend and the victim trusts them
give them information about support services
record the details in your incident register.