An anti-violence advocacy organisation will hand out free drink spike testing kits at a popular nightclub this weekend in a bid to protect people from the "cowardly" crime.
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What Were You Wearing will provide the kits at King Street as part of a Halloween party at the venue. Spokesperson Bree Roberts said the group chose the venue after reports of drink spiking and needle injections at the club in the past 12 months.
"As far as we know, nobody has actually done anything like this in Newcastle before," she said.
Founder of What Were You Wearing Sarah Williams said their organisation had received a concerning number of reports about spiking in Newcastle.
Ms Roberts said while it was encouraging that more people were willing to report the issue, drink spiking was a "horrible" crime.
"It's incredibly cowardly," she said.
"Some young women and young people feel like they can't go to certain places. We want to empower them to go and feel safe and send a message to perpetrators that we're not going to be intimidated or avoid certain venues."
It's incredibly cowardly.
- What Were You Wearing's Bree Roberts
The group will have volunteers at a station inside the venue where people can take their drinks to be tested for drugs such as benzodiazepine and GHB, which can be used by perpetrators to make victims feel dizzy, sleepy, ill, and suffer memory loss. The sample will show up a different colour if it has been spiked.
Ms Williams said one of the demands of Reclaim the Night on Friday was for the testing kits to be made mandatory in venues.
"They can save someone's life, or stop them from going to hospital," Ms Williams said.
She said the message for the Halloween occasion was: "costumes don't equal consent".
Ms Roberts said she hoped they could hold more events like this at other popular venues in the future.
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Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
