BOSTON (WHDH) - Bostonians are calling on their elected leaders to step up and fight the spike in reports of spiked drinks in the city’s bars and on college campuses.
“It’s clearly an issue that we’re seeing and hearing about across the city,” one woman testified in a City Council meeting on the issue.
“I had an incident where I literally had a glass of champagne before walking to my car to go home at like, probably 11 p.m. at night, and I don’t remember the walk back to my car,” another woman said. “It was very scary to come out of that and try to have the experience of figuring out what to do.”
Boston University officials said that students have been reporting spiked drink incidents more in the past few months, but depending on when, where and how it gets reported, it can be hard to track.
“We are certainly hearing more about this,” said Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta. “But in terms of how it has increased, we don’t have the data yet to be able to speak to that, but rest assured, we’re working on it.”
Boston Police said they’ve received 73 reports of drink spiking this year, but said that of those, only one tested positive for an unknown date rape drug, and three tested positive for opioids. The department put out a warning this week to be cautious, don’t accept drinks from people you don’t know, and never leave your drink unattended.
Boston Police have also suggested that bars install more cameras that can help police identify instances where people were overserved or when someone slipped something into their drink. They’ve also suggested a Good Samaritan law for local bars, which would allow them to call police if they notice someone has been drugged, and they won’t suffer any repercussions for overserving.
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