'Needle spiking' in UK nightclubs wtf?

[bluescreen]

Grim.

The needle-stick story emerges in the Houston Astroworld stampede too. As if crowd surge alone, in a dangerously crowded venue where everyone wants to see the star, wasn't enough.

Criminal probe opened into stampede at rap concert in Houston that killed 8

A stampede of fans surging toward the stage during rap star Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston killed at least eight people and injured dozens more as panic rippled through the crowd of largely young concertgoers, officials said on Saturday.

www.reuters.com

Finner said that among the "narratives" under review by police were reports suggesting "some individual was injecting other people with drugs."

One report involved a security officer "who felt a prick in his neck" as he was trying to restrain or grab someone and then fell unconscious, only to be revived with a dose of the opioid antidote naloxone, Finner said, citing an account from medical personnel who treated the officer.

Finner said the medical staff also noticed what appeared to be a needle mark on the officer's neck.

It was not clear whether authorities suspected such an episode played a role in the crowd surge, but Finner said, "we're going to get down to the bottom of it."

Police were awaiting autopsies to determine the causes of death, but said some victims were trampled.

But there doesn't need to be much cause to set off a crowd surge. Especially when the star is egging them on.

The BBC has been reporting the injection hypothesis, which is irresponsible before confirmation. It illustrates how stories get inflated by repetition. It then becomes too easy to dismiss the whole phenomenon as fake when there might have been an element of truth behind some of the reports somewhere.

Utterly grim what happened in Houston without any need to embellish it.

Houston disaster thread here. Didn't want to put the (peripheral) needle spike story on that one as it's about the tragedy itself:

8 dead after crowd surge at US festival

statement from the lass that got on stage begging for them to stop the show That account of this tragedy has huge overtones of similar things at football here in the UK like Hillsborough, Ibrox etc. Compressed crowds, indifference from security and organisers, the actual physical actions as...

www.urban75.net

 

[keybored]

Not an injection but I find the casual, rehearsed sleight-of-hand this man uses to drop a pill into the woman's drink really alarming. He's almost certainly done this before and barely looks old enough to be in a club.


He's been nicked for it (along with another, both 18).

Two teenagers arrested after video appears to show woman's drink being spiked

The video has been shared widely across social media

www.bristol247.com

 

[equationgirl]

There's also this article from the BBC website:

Libby Squire: Murdered student's sister spiked on night out

The mother of murdered student Libby Squire believes her younger daughter was spiked by needle.

www.bbc.co.uk

This young woman's sister was raped and murdered on a night out some years ago. She's someone who's extra vigilant because of that, so knew to look for hep immediately.

 

[editor]

My ex girlfriend has just had a really traumatic evening. She went to a gig in east London and it seems she was almost certainly spiked. I had to talk her through her cab journey home because she felt so disorientated and vulnerable - and this is someone who can definitely handle her drink normally.

It was horrible hearing her so terrified on her journey back to her flat, but I'm going to encourage her to call the police tomorrow because something clearly happened here.

 

[Sue]

How awful. Hope she's okay, editor and glad you managed to help her get home safely. Where was the gig out of interest?

 

[editor]

How awful. Hope she's okay, editor and glad you managed to help her get home safely. Where was the gig out of interest?

She was unable to tell me - she was struggling to make any kind of sense and it was really upsetting - but I want to check that she didn't go to a local bar first before I name the place.

 

[BigTom]

Grim.

The needle-stick story emerges in the Houston Astroworld stampede too. As if crowd surge alone, in a dangerously crowded venue where everyone wants to see the star, wasn't enough.

Criminal probe opened into stampede at rap concert in Houston that killed 8

A stampede of fans surging toward the stage during rap star Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston killed at least eight people and injured dozens more as panic rippled through the crowd of largely young concertgoers, officials said on Saturday.

www.reuters.com

But there doesn't need to be much cause to set off a crowd surge. Especially when the star is egging them on.

The BBC has been reporting the injection hypothesis, which is irresponsible before confirmation. It illustrates how stories get inflated by repetition. It then becomes too easy to dismiss the whole phenomenon as fake when there might have been an element of truth behind some of the reports somewhere.

Utterly grim what happened in Houston without any need to embellish it.

Houston disaster thread here. Didn't want to put the (peripheral) needle spike story on that one as it's about the tragedy itself:

8 dead after crowd surge at US festival

statement from the lass that got on stage begging for them to stop the show That account of this tragedy has huge overtones of similar things at football here in the UK like Hillsborough, Ibrox etc. Compressed crowds, indifference from security and organisers, the actual physical actions as...

www.urban75.net

This one at least has been disproven as the security guard had said they weren't, the original story came from medics who treated him whilst he was unconscious but never spoke to him about what actually happened: Security guard wasn't victim of "needle-spiking" at Astroworld, was struck in head: Police

 

[LDC]

That reminds me, the case I have mentioned above also wasn't needle-spiking, normal blood results, no sign of anything at all. I'm 100% it was overactive imagination/anxiety provoked and social media fueled after a panic attack.

 

[equationgirl]

She was unable to tell me - she was struggling to make any kind of sense and it was really upsetting - but I want to check that she didn't go to a local bar first before I name the place.

How is she doing editor? Hope you are both ok.

 

[editor]

How is she doing editor? Hope you are both ok.

She's still in bed feeling rough. She barely remembers anything from the night, and has absolutely no recollection of the long cab journey home. Of course it could be that she just got more pissed than she thought, but I've never known her to be scared after drinking - or even get into this kind of state - so something doesn't seem right, especially as it wasn't a particularly long night out.

 

[High Voltage]

She's still in bed feeling rough. She barely remembers anything from the night, and has absolutely no recollection of the long cab journey home. Of course it could be that she just got more pissed than she thought, but I've never known her to be scared after drinking - or even get into this kind of state - so something doesn't seem right, especially as it wasn't a particularly long night out.

Glad to hear that she got home OK and apart from feeling rough sounds to be on the mend

 

[equationgirl]

She's still in bed feeling rough. She barely remembers anything from the night, and has absolutely no recollection of the long cab journey home. Of course it could be that she just got more pissed than she thought, but I've never known her to be scared after drinking - or even get into this kind of state - so something doesn't seem right, especially as it wasn't a particularly long night out.

If she can report to the police at least they would have a note of it, but any tests might not find anything and if she'd been spiked with extra shots of alcohol nothing will show up anyway. And I can appreciate she'd rather just get better.

I'm glad she got home safe.

 

[editor]

If she can report to the police at least they would have a note of it, but any tests might not find anything and if she'd been spiked with extra shots of alcohol nothing will show up anyway. And I can appreciate she'd rather just get better.

I'm glad she got home safe.

I'll chat to her when she feels better and see what her friends say too. If she still feels that something was definitely not right I'll encourage her to contact the police.

 

[Chilli.s]

Interesting thing on bbc R4 about spiking. They interviewed a victim who remembered nothing but had lost his wallet and phone, his phone had been accessed and lots of financial transactions done, bank card and pin also used. I'm thinking this is a more likely aim for "mugging" someone as well as a sexual motive. Horrible

 

[elbows]

Interesting thing on bbc R4 about spiking. They interviewed a victim who remembered nothing but had lost his wallet and phone, his phone had been accessed and lots of financial transactions done, bank card and pin also used. I'm thinking this is a more likely aim for "mugging" someone as well as a sexual motive. Horrible

Probably this one:

Fraud: 'I had £18,000 stolen after my drink was spiked'

Fraudsters appear to be adopting the "sinister" tactic of spiking drinks to steal money, campaigners warn.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[ouirdeaux]

Surely, if one has multiple accounts, it isn't particularly wise to go out with cards/a device that can gain access to all of them?

Not victim blaming -- scumbags gonna scumbag, and they're entirely at fault -- but there's no need to make things easier for them.

 

[AverageJoe]

Drink spiking: Tunbridge Wells bar closes after seven spiking reports

Police say there are concerns for the safety of customers at Pitcher and Piano in Tunbridge Wells.

www.bbc.co.uk

In Royal Tunbridge Wells no less

 

[ddraig]

Nottingham student tells MPs of 'sadistic' nightclub spiking

Zara Owen gave evidence to MPs, who are investigating how to combat spiking attacks in venues.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ms Owen, a French and Spanish student at the University of Nottingham, said she went with her friends to Pryzm nightclub in Nottingham city centre, but cannot remember anything else from the evening.
She said she was found on her own in a takeaway, and in the morning found a pin prick mark on her leg.

 

[Winot]

This is a good investigation into the needle spiking phenomenon last Autumn. 40 min audio with transcript.

Spiking: An injection of fear - Tortoise

Summary - there isn’t good evidence that there was a needle spiking epidemic and it’s unlikely that it happened. Importantly though there are good reasons why women believed it was happening (including dreadfully unhelpful responses from the NHS and police).

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

Some now reported in France
3 investigations in 3 towns,

• Bezier (10 complaints arising from 2 club in one night, another 30 reports, from both males and females as well as underage),
• Grenoble (5 female 2 male reports)
• Nantes (23 reports)

 

[8ball]

Some now reported in France
3 investigations in 3 towns,

• Bezier (10 complaints arising from 2 club in one night, another 30 reports, from both males and females as well as underage),
• Grenoble (5 female 2 male reports)
• Nantes (23 reports)

I wonder how it migrated after something of a lull, or whether it has emerged independently, or even shares a common origin to the spate here.

 

[platinumsage]

None in Scotland apparently:

No evidence of spiking by injection, say police

Despite a surge in complaints, Police Scotland found no proof of the crime in the past year.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[ddraig]

Bit about this on 24 hours in A and E on Channel 4 tonight
Looking for marks on 2 women who were spiked
One woman with raised bit on their arm who felt they'd been spiked

 

[Epona]

Bit about this on 24 hours in A and E on Channel 4 tonight
Looking for marks on 2 women who were spiked
One woman with raised bit on their arm who felt they'd been spiked

Aye one of them had collapsed, it said at the end that they'd dealt with over 200 cases of women spiked (both drink spiked and suspected needle-spiking) between October and December.
I've had my drink spiked once, fortunately I was with people who helped me get home safe.

 

[AverageJoe]

I've had mine done too. And I'm a bloke.

One minute I was fine, the next I couldn't stand or talk. Proper scary.

 

[bellaozzydog]

This is a good investigation into the needle spiking phenomenon last Autumn. 40 min audio with transcript.

Spiking: An injection of fear - Tortoise

Summary - there isn’t good evidence that there was a needle spiking epidemic and it’s unlikely that it happened. Importantly though there are good reasons why women believed it was happening (including dreadfully unhelpful responses from the NHS and police).

This is a really sensible balanced piece