Was talking to a friend of mine and she said she had an odd experience on a date. She was meeting a dude at a bar and he had martinis waiting on the bar near the bartender for them. She didn’t think anything of it, but she had 2-3 sips and decided she didn’t want a martini because it tasted too bitter. Without having anything else to drink, she was feeling somewhat normal for most of the date, except for getting increasingly annoyed at the fact the guy was being somewhat pushy about her going home with him. About an hour and a half after she took those sips, she says she blacked out for 10-15 minutes–she remembers him asking her to come home with him and saying no, but she’s not clear on when/how he left, she was just suddenly alone at the table. She was then very dizzy and had to walk slowly back to her car and take extra care driving home, but was then starting to seem better after another half-hour and a glass and a half of water (which I made her drink).
Is this something that could have happened due to ingesting a minuscule amount of a date rape drug, or am I being paranoid on her behalf? She’s never had any blackouts before to my knowledge, and I’ve seen her drink herself so stupid (on Purim) that she was unable to read.
No practical knowledge here, though of course I’ll provide a link to a Wikipedia page. Mostly I just wanted to recommend that your friend go in to get a drug test (if the event was just in the last day or two.) Maybe there would be a way to get the guy prosecuted or at least added to a list of some sort in the police department.
Hm, could be. Our roommate from a couple years ago got a spiked drink [what saved her was me and another friend coming in to meet up with her and her date who didnt know that we were just parking the car] and seeing her looking pretty glassy after barely a third of a fruity punch drink [maybe a strawberry daiquery or marguerita, it was red and fruity like a smoothie] and the guy pretty much feeling her up at the bar. Not her normal behavior … and she was acting like she had been drinking solidly for a few hours, not the 10 minutes it took us to park and walk in. As soon as she stood up and gave us a huge sloppy ‘drunk girlfreind’ hug and an introduction as her roommate and bestest friends ever he all of a sudden came up with some lame excuse that he had to make it an early night because of a business trip the next day … and he stopped PMing her the next day. She could barely walk and doesnt even remember him leaving the table, or us getting her home. She wasnt a zombie, just really agreeable and like a large, slightly demented puppy, clumsey and friendly.
You might not. But it might be enough information for the police to get a warrant to look in his home for illegal substances. Or not, I don’t know.
But what a positive drug test *will *do is give her a reasonable reason to talk to the owner of the club and the bartender, so they can keep an eye out for the guy and/or other women drinking alone. If it’s a small to middle-sized town, it will probably make the papers (without her name, if that’s what she wants) so that the problem of drinking spiking in their area is a little less abstract.
There have been two suspected drink spiking cases in my hometown in the last few months, both at the same bar (a total shithole from way back) and the newpaper coverage has made both the bartenders and the patrons more aware and responsible.
I think that’s an excellent idea. If her drink was spiked, chances are extremely high that it was a benzo, which have metabolites that can be detected for up to two weeks after ingestion. It’s not too late. Walmart sells a test kit which checks for benzodiazepines for less than $50. If she tests positive, she can then go to a lab for confirmation that she can take to the authorities.
Is the reason for this to lend credibility to her claim? Otherwise, she can certainly talk to the owner, the bartender, the bouncer, the police, or anybody else she’d like to. Of those, the police are the only ones likely to ask to see confirmation of the test results.
This story reminded me of a night about two years ago. A good friend from college and I went to the dollar theater to watch a movie. The one we decided on didn’t start for about an hour, so we went to a Hooters across the street. We sat down and ordered a couple beers. About five minutes later, she said she wasn’t feeling well, stood up, and said she was going to the restroom. She didn’t make it past the edge of the table, and she passed out. Luckily we were sitting on high stools, so I was able to quickly jump up and catch her before she fell(and not spill any beer). To this day, neither her nor I know what or why it happened, I originally thought it was a blood sugar thing, but have no idea.
As people have suggested, if she really believes she was drugged, go get a drug test and then contact the police on this guy.
The problem with a lot of these “I think I was drugged” stories is that when you dig deeper, the person telling them forgot to mention the 4 shots, 3 beers, a joint and a tab of acid they had with their girlfriends earlier. I had one friend telling me he thought someone put something in his drink. Later, he’s mentioning previous parts of the story where he was doing coke in the bathroom with some dude and drinking beers off of other tables. I’m like “Dude!! I think I see the guy who drugged you!!” at which point I point him to the mirror on his wall.
But yeah, blacking out from a few sips of a martini some guy has waiting for you strikes me as super sketchy. You might as well have dry ice smoke coming out of one with a note that says “Drink Me! (Note to self, don’t YOU drink this.)”
Well, so she can go in and say, “Look, I tested positive for barbiturates which I didn’t take on my own after I was at your bar on 11/08, and I’m pretty sure they came from that creepy blond guy who likes to play video poker on Thursday nights.” Rather than, “I felt kind weird the other day; sometimes I drink a lot but I’ve never blacked out before!” That can be dismissed with a “Joe, quit making the rum and cokes so strong!”
Just gives them more to go on, you know? Maybe not for legal prosecution, but for practical prevention. People like numbers and tests; they’re more reliable than drunk people.
As a followup: The person in question is willing to believe she was just not feeling well, but she wanted to cover all the bases. Regardless, she’s not terribly interested in seeing the guy again either way, and the bartender has been chatted with and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so I think the whole thing is probably going to end up dropping.