What to do first if someone has spiked you
If you or someone else is in danger right now
If you or someone else are injured, in immediate danger or you need support right away, call 999 now.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.
If you're in danger but you can't talk on the phone, you can call 999, then follow these instructions.
| 1. Get to safety |
| 2. Seek emergency medical attention, if necessary |
| 3. Report it to the police |
There's no right way to feel or act if someone has spiked you. What you do is up to you. But here are some things you might want to do or think about first.
Get to safety
- Tell the people you’re with, so that they can look after you.
- Alert a member of staff or security if you're in a bar, club or at a festival.
- Make sure you are somewhere where you feel safe, for example, by asking a friend to take you home or stay with you.
- Don’t go home on your own or leave with someone you don’t know.
- Drink some water, but don't try to flush out any drugs or alcohol by drinking lots of water.
If someone has spiked a friend, follow the steps above for them. Stay with them. Keep talking to them until emergency medical assistance arrives or you get them to a place of safety.
Some venues participate in a scheme called 'Ask for Angela'. You can ask for Angela at the bar if you feel unsafe, vulnerable or threatened and need a discrete way of asking for support.
Seek emergency medical attention, if necessary
If you or your friend feel unwell you should seek emergency medical attention and tell them that that someone has spiked you or your friend. Call an ambulance if the symptoms get worse.
NHS
Find NHS urgent and emergency services:
If you're in England
If you think that someone has spiked you with a needle, you may want to get tested for HIV, hepatitis and other possible infections.
If you think there may have been a sexual assault
If you think there may have been a sexual assault, go to your nearest sexual assault referral centre (SARC) for specialist care and support.
Find your nearest SARC:
Report it to the police
Report it to the police as soon as possible. Some drugs can leave the body within 12 hours, so it’s important you get tested as soon as possible.
We know it can be scary to report being spiked, but the police are here to help you. We will listen to you and take you seriously.
As soon as you are well enough to report it to the police, we want to hear from you. Your report means that we can investigate and prevent it happening to others.
Read more about how to report spiking
How we collect evidence
If there might be other evidence, we’ll ask you to preserve it if you can.
Evidence can include something that the offender might have left behind at the scene that could help us prove what happened. For example, a glass or needle.
We understand that you may not be in a fit state to think of preserving evidence. It may help to ask a friend or a member of staff, if possible.
Getting tested
After you report a spiking incident, we may ask you to give us a urine or blood sample for a forensic test. This can establish whether someone may have spiked you. If you think someone has sexually assaulted you, a sexual assault referral centre (SARC) can also take these forensic tests, as well as giving you specialist support.
Some drugs leave the body within 12 hours or much sooner. It's important to report spiking to us as soon as possible, so we can take a sample that could be used for testing.
But many other drugs stay in the body longer, so we might be able to test you up to seven days after the incident. Even after seven days, we might still be able to investigate and collect evidence.
If someone has spiked you with alcohol, there are other ways we can investigate what happened to you.
But although forensic testing can tell you and us whether someone has indeed spiked you, you're in control. If you don’t want to give us a blood or urine sample for forensic testing, that's fine. You can tell us what happened to you without taking part in testing and the investigation.