My beautiful 22 year old daughter was out with friends when her drink was spiked.

We all hear the stories and immediately two things come to mind:

1 - it won’t happen to me

2 - this is an excuse for someone who over indulged, but this is not the case.

It was 7pm in a popular local restaurant/pub, a Friday night no different to many others. The plan was for her to go out and have a couple of drinks with some friends and go home. Sky is usually the designated driver “Sober Sally/Mom” as she’s lovingly dubbed by her friends as she sips on her Coca-Cola, making sure everybody else gets home safely.

Knowing that she would be having a few drinks with her friends, Sky set off with her best friend Lexi and their designated driver.

The girls each ordered a cocktail, and then another. Lexi took a sip of her drink and said she didn’t like the way it tasted, so Sky offered to swap drinks. Little did we know that “taste” was due to some extra ingredients. Half way through the drink, Sky started to feel funny and began ordering water (a common occurrence on their nights out). She went on to drink copious amounts of water (confirmed by the camera footage that was pored over for hours) but appeared to get more and more drunk as the night went on. Looking for her half finished cocktail that mysteriously disappeared was the last thing she remembers from that night.

Most stories you hear about spiking involve someone falling over and being barely conscious; Sky was fine (seemed incredibly drunk all of a sudden, especially considering how she was downing water) but fine, still standing and chatting and full of life. Here’s my little shoutout to those friends who stuck by her side that night as she darted around the pub and continued to hand her water after water.

The night came to a close and it was only on the way home that it became clear that something was not okay. She began vomiting profusely and due to her being at home on her own that night, Lexi chose to stay with her to make sure she was okay. They both woke up in the early hours of the morning when Lexi noticed Sky’s eyes, her pupils were dilated and her eyes completely bloodshot. Realising the panic in Lexi’s eyes, Sky got up to see herself in a mirror at which point she became dizzy and collapsed on the tiled floor. Waking up to Lexi shouting her name and trying to put a pillow under her bleeding head is a feeling she says she will never forget.

Being almost carried to the car, they took trip to a medical professional to sort out her head wound. Due to Sky’s reluctance to go to a hospital as she was nothing but a pool of tears, living an out of body experience, they suggested an at home drug test. The results were clear, cocaine. Unfortunately the at home test only covers a few things and the drugs often used to spike are not covered on there. However, cocaine has become a mixer with said drugs to mask the falling and semi unconscious giveaway signs of spiking, until it’s too late.

Given the exorbitant price of cocaine (which I have very recently learned), we suspect it was somebody they know. We believe that when said person realised Sky was drinking it and not Lexi, witnessing the effects it was having on her, they quickly swiped the drink. Unfortunately the camera where they were sitting was blocked so we couldn’t see exactly what happened. Strangely, we also couldn’t see what ever happened to the half drunk cocktail. What a blessing that it disappeared though! If these were the effects after half, can you imagine the effects had she drunk the whole thing?! I truly believe she could have died.

She shook and sweated for 3 days solid, unable to stand up without support. She looked like a ghost, felt terrible and appeared to be someone in drug withdrawal. Her eyes remained pools of blood for two months before they glistened again. I wish we had taken pictures sooner after the incident, just like I wish we had done a blood panel, but our focus was on making sure she was okay.

Those who know my daughter know that since she was little, she likes to have a choice. Most nights she chooses not to drink, that night she chose to drink. She normally chooses to drive, that night she chose not to. She is a responsible young lady who knows her body and limits and makes her choices accordingly. I am yet to see my daughter drunk, tipsy yes, but drunk? Never. She makes the choice to stop drinking before losing control. That word CHOICE became so important on this journey, it’s one thing making a choice (good or bad) but to have that choice taken away from you is another.

Here’s the thing - she was lucky. We were lucky.

She was with friends who had her back and a designated driver but what if...
What if her friends had left her alone for even 5 minutes. Would someone have taken advantage of her?
What if she had driven and killed herself, or somebody else?

Drink spiking is prevalent, more so than we know.
Many don’t talk about it due to embarrassment or fear, but we need to put our hands up and our covers on and say “NO MORE!”

If you have been a victim of drink spiking please message us and let us know, we want to use your stories, OUR stories to promote change.

We value your privacy; we will never share your full name and at your request will be dubbed anonymous.

Stay safe ladies!