This new anti-spiking stir stick might save your life

Though the numbers are alarming, they are not surprising; the issue of drink spiking has been a known and largely unaddressed reality for decades. What is notable is that public safety in nightlife settings continues to rely on improvised strategies and individual vigilance rather than institutional safeguards.

Recently in the UK, investigators found that the ‘Ask for Angela’ initiative – an anti-spiking project designed to provide a discreet lifeline for those who believe they are in danger whilst on a night out – wasn’t being implemented properly across a vast number of venues. 

Other anti-spiking strategies like Spikeless have also failed to take off in any significant way, with various contraptions including drinks covers and nail polish failing to provide discreet and simple options for users. 

Spikeless stands apart not because it solves the underlying problem, but because it fits into existing habits without asking much of the user. 

Sasha Santos, an anti-violence activist working with researches on the project, says the technology has the potential to be a game-changer, adding that other drug testing tools are marketed to customers in problematic ways. 

‘In the anti-violence sector, there’s a lot of very strong feelings about people who are targeted with violence being told that the burden of safety is on them, and that they have to buy more and do more to project themselves constantly,’ Santos said. 

‘The idea is that [Spikeless] will be completely ubiquitous. Every drink leaving the bar will have a stick in it. Every drink will be stirred, every drink will be tested, every drink will be safe.’  

But the quiet ease of the device also gestures toward something more uncomfortable – that this kind of tool is not only necessary but long overdue is a reflection of how normalized the threat of drink spiking has become.

Stacey Forrester, member of Good Night Out Vancouver – an advocacy group that focuses on sexual violence prevention – says sexual assault remains ‘widely underreported’, and that while she welcomes any tool that can minimise its risk, education and training to help keep people safe is just as important. 

Whether Spikeless becomes a staple or fades into the long list of well-intentioned but underused safety products will likely depend on how seamlessly it integrates into nightlife culture.

‘I think there is a general consensus that the community wants to step into a nightclub or into a pub and know that that space has their back… Any time we put the responsibility on the individual, it’s a very dangerous game to play.’ 

Indeed, the cultural response to spiking still tends to focus on personal responsibility, urging people to keep an eye on their drinks, to stick with friends, to never leave anything unattended. What rarely gets questioned is why we continue to accept environments where those precautions are required in the first place.

‘I’ve never drank and don’t plan to but the fact that people have to resort to this is so sad![sic]’ said one comment beneath a post covering the development of Spikeless. 

‘The war on women comes in many forms. It’s wild that we even have to create such things in order to protect ourselves and others from violence at the hands of men, but I’m thankful for the work’ said another. 

These types of reactions are valid. And certainly there’s no reason a simple stir stick should feel like a breakthrough. But in the long and frustrating history of how drink spiking has been handled, it might be the closest thing we’ve had to one.