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Drink spiking: GHB detection tests won't protect you!

Drink spiking: GHB detection tests won't protect you!

 

CALL for VIGILANCE

Since 2021, reports of assaults by chemical submission have been multiplying on social networks and in the Press.

In most cases, aggressors deliberately spike their victims' drinks with psychoactive substances in bars or discos.

As a specialist in drug screening and detection, we are now regularly approached by dozens of student clubs, bars, nightclubs and event organizers, asking us to provide them with tests that could detect the presence of GHB in drinks.

We fully understand and share your concerns.

But our answer remains invariably the same:

There is currently no rapid test to ensure that a drink has not been maliciously contaminated with a drug or chemical submission substance, regardless of the country or manufacturer.

Less than 3% of drink spikings involve GHB

Because it's the most talked-about date-rape drug in the media, too many people still believe that detecting GHB means protecting themselves. But it's not!

Focusing on GHB in this way is missing the point, because GHB only concerns a small minority of cases.

The truth is that the most commonly used substances are everyday medications:

Antihistamines,
Benzodiazepines,
Anxiolytics,
Sleeping pills,
Opioids,
Ketamine,
Pregabalin
etc.

Aggressors can choose from over a hundred molecules with powerful sedative effects, even irrepressible if taken in high doses, especially when combined with alcohol.

Testing for GHB alone is like testing for nothing at all!

Some people claim that being able to test drinks for the presence of GHB and Ketamine is "better than nothing".

But it's not. It's worse than nothing!

Because testing for only 5% or even 50% of the molecules used by assailants provides a false feeling of security, which inevitably leads those who use these tests to lower their vigilance and put themselves at risk.

It is therefore illusory and extremely dangerous to think that a test for GHB or ketamine can ensure any kind of safety, and those who say otherwise are dream merchants.

The truth is that it would take more than twenty different tests to efficiently control a single glass.

Even if we were to offer complete kits for this purpose, no one would bother to do it on a night out. So it's equally illusory to think that young people would test their drinks themselves.

We could offer GHB detection tests, but we won't do it

We are a manufacturer of drug detection tests, and as such :

  • Yes, we know perfectly well how to identify GHB using rapid tests for over 10 years.
  • Yes, we know that kits for detecting GHB in beverages are sold on various websites.
  • And yes, we could perfectly well offer similar kits for sale
  • But no, we won't do it, because such tests won't protect you from a drink spiking chemical aggression.

The one and only method of protection is constant vigilance.

Stay in groups as much as possible, and look out for each other. In the event of a drink spiking, this is the only thing that can make a difference.

Believe me, if detection kits could do the job efficiently, we would have been marketing them long ago.

Founder and manager of Kappa City Biotech since 2005.
Through the blog DrugNews, I share my experience on how to deal with situations related to drug and alcohol use, whether in the family sphere or in the workplace.