City prosecutor sees increase in cases of spiked drinks

Posted: Jun 20, 2012 5:38 PM by Elizabeth Hill
Updated: Jun 22, 2012 6:41 PM

Your parents probably warned you about it and common sense tells you how to avoid it, but chances are you or someone you know has been a victim of a spiked drink.

"In the last few months I've seen a spike in the number of cases that have come through."

Chief City Prosecutor Gary Haynes says the drug is typically GHB known as the date rape drug. He says it's happening at bars and restaurants across the city.

"Over the years I've seen it come from restaurants, it's more frequent in bars, it's more frequent that the victim's are females, but there are males as well."

He says in some cases the victims were sexual assaulted. In others, people have been hospitalized and some arrested for disorderly conduct or public intoxication because of how the drug makes them behave.

"Once we read the report and speak to either the defense attorney or the defendant it's obvious from their background that they're not big drinkers and the behavior is not consistent with alcohol use."

Unfortunately, the perpetrators in these cases rarely face any charges or even get caught because the victim can't remember anything.

"Its hard to enforce because it's done in a secretive manner, so its hard to determine with a lot of people around who's doing it, where its coming from."