Featured Image Credit: Tiktok/@shiraah
Topics: Health, Social Media, TikTok
Poppy Bilderbeck
Warning: This article contains discussion of drugging and sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
A woman has been raising important awareness about just how 'easy' it is to spike people by recording herself putting candy in her friends' drinks.
In any sort of ideal or sane world, spiking wouldn't exist, people who think about doing it would be locked away before they even had a chance to and we wouldn't have to be the ones learning how to keep ourselves safe. Unfortunately, the reality is, we do.
The damaging effects of spiking go far beyond a single night - victims of spiking potentially ending up with long-lasting trauma and effects on their mental wellbeing too - and while many of us clutch our glasses a little tighter when in public or around strangers, a TikToker's 'terrifying' video reveals how spiking is a prevalent danger to consider at any sort of event and around anyone.
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American Addiction Centers surveyed over 900 people to determine the prevalence of drink or food spiking and found 'around 50 percent of women and men surveyed have had their drinks or food spiked at least once'.
While '50 percent of woman' and '32 percent of men' had 'their drinks of food spiked by a stranger,' it's website explains '42 percent of the people who spiked men’s drinks or food were considered friends'.
The main substance to be spiked was alcohol and '51 percent of men and 46 percent of women reported having drinks or food spiked at a house party'.
And a TikToker has emphasized just how 'easy' it is to spike drinks - including at a house party too.
In a video reshared to her page yesterday (September 28), Shirah - the founder of NightCap which creates products to protect people against spiking in the form of bottle tops, stickers and scrunchie covers - can be seen 'spiking' her friends drinks using tubes of loose sherbet and gummies to 'show them how easy it is'.
Indeed, multiple different clips show Shirah squeezing gummies into cans and pouring sherbet into cups illustrating just how 'quick' it is to do without anyone noticing.
"You people aren't paying attention. You thought I was asking him a question," she warns. "Your drink can be spiked even if it's water."
The caption reads: "Do not let your guard down even at a private party."
And it's not taken long for people to weigh in.
One TikTok user wrote: "Love this! People think it's really difficult to do!"
Another added: "I've had this happen to me. I blacked out and almost hurt someone really bad. I came to 18hrs later not having a single memory of what happened only people telling me what I did."
A third commented: "That is terrifying seeing it in real time."
A fourth wrote: "This is scary."
One Twitter user noted: "Oh my God this is just shocking."
And someone else said: "And these examples were all well lit… it’s even easier in the dark."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.