New test facilities for drink spiking (From Watford Observer)

New test facilities for drink spiking

2:44pm Monday 10th May 2004 in News By Victoria Dillingham

PUBS and clubs in Watford town centre have joined forces in a new initiative to target sexual predators who spike drinks with potentially life-threatening drugs.

All bars, pubs and clubs belonging to Pubwatch the voluntary watchdog set up to promote safety now have the facility to test drinks for the key drugs commonly associated with date-rape.

The tests which have been purchased from independent health company Homehealth UK are available on request from the bar of the majority of licensed premises in the High Street and The Parade, Watford.

The disposable kit works similar to a pregnancy test and is dipped into the suspect drink for five seconds, before being returned to its lid to give a positive or negative reading within five minutes.

It detects the presence of any drugs that fall within the same family as benzodiazepines which include a wide range of commonly prescribed tranquillisers known to produce a sedative effect.

Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill was at the forefront of a team of officials including police, licensing officers for Watford and representatives from Homehealth, who descended on four random bars Lloyds, Baraka, Yates and Chicago in Watford town centre on Friday, April 30, night to test drinks as part of the launch.

Mayor Thornhill said: "The kits are now available in pubs and anyone is free to use them to test their drink to give themselves peace of mind, especially if they've left their drink unattended for any length of time while dancing, visiting the cloakrooms or buying drinks and snacks."

Of a total of ten drinks tested, between the hours of 8.30pm and 11pm, none returned a positive reading.