London [UK] April 27:Drink spiking in Britain's bars and night clubs and at music festivals will remain an "invisible crime" unless action is taken, a new parliamentary report warned on Tuesday.
The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee said in the report that fewer than a third of victims reported their drinks had been spiked, and for those that did, no further action was taken.
The report found that a lack of available data on spiking made it difficult to get a clear picture of the true extent of the problem, and this barrier to policing is bound to remain until data collection is improved.
Drink spiking is when someone puts drugs or alcohol into a person's drink without their knowledge or consent. It can include slipping illegal drugs into an alcoholic or non- alcoholic drink. It can also be difficult to tell whether a drink has been spiked.
"A culture of viewing victims as having had 'one too many' and a lack of coordinated support from venues, police and health services has meant many incidents are going unreported," the report said.
The committee called for a focused response to ensure that incidents are better investigated and for a knowledge base to be developed to underpin new strategies to combat spiking.
The creation of a new criminal offence for spiking, currently under consideration by the British government, would help improve the response to incidents, the lawmakers said. They added that police forces should be required to carry out forensic testing quickly.
Source: Xinhua
