A woman aged in her mid-40s who had her drink spiked with Opiates at a Brisbane venue, says there is a culture of not believing victims. It has been 20 years since the last comprehensive national report on drink spiking – and those affected say it is not good enough.
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00:00At a Brisbane music venue in April, a woman we're calling Mandy had one of the worst nights
00:08of her life. She'd only been there for 35 minutes when she suddenly felt extremely sick.
00:14I started throwing up and I actually passed out beside the toilet.
00:20The 44-year-old had consumed just three alcoholic drinks over almost four hours, with dinner
00:26in between. Outside, knowing something was badly wrong, her partner called an ambulance.
00:34She dropped so fast and she couldn't move and she was throwing up.
00:39She says she told health care workers Mandy hadn't had much alcohol. At hospital she was
00:45put in a room with only chairs, even though she couldn't sit or stand.
00:50I couldn't understand why they weren't doing tests, to see if it's her heart, to see if
00:56it's something, a stroke. They just left her on the floor.
01:02A spokesperson said patients are cared for as per their clinical needs, which may include
01:07sitting up in an acute chair area. And medical management remains consistent, regardless
01:14of whether a drink has been spiked. A pathology test ordered by a GP days later
01:20detected opiates in her system. Mandy thinks someone put it in her drink at the venue.
01:26Horrified that someone had done that, felt violated.
01:31Drink spiking can happen at home or in public, is a criminal offence nationwide and can precede
01:38sexual assault. But there's no concrete information on how often it happens.
01:43ABC News requested interviews with the Queensland Police Service and the Hotels Association
01:49about drink spiking, but the requests were declined. In a statement, police say they
01:54take the crime seriously and encourage anyone who thinks they've been spiked to report it
02:00as soon as possible. Mandy has given up her love of seeing live
02:05music. It's made us not want to actually go out
02:07and interact with anyone.