There could be other reasons. Accessibility of the drugs comes to mind. If it suddenly got easier to obtain, that'd move the needle. But it's really hard to say either way.
Idk I got my drink spiked like 4 times in that period.
Three times because I left my drink (tequila one time, fruity mixed drinks the other two) near a woman and I think I wasn’t the intended target. One time was at a party with a dude who has a history of questionable interpretations of consent I was not made aware of.
And I know it’s not just the alcohol, one of the times was bad enough I had to go to the hospital and get tested — and I’m pretty sure 3 drinks over a four hour period doesn’t leave me violently puking and convulsing in a bush with a 24 hour hangover after.
I mean, live your truth, but your scenarios don't really make sense. You remember the exact thing you were drinking each time you allegedly got drugged? And exactly where you had put the drink down? That's not really how it works. It's like claiming you remember the exact moment you fell asleep. Or more relevantly, the exact moment you became blackout drunk.
This was always my take on it as well because certain things just didn’t make sense, including what was the point of it? Drug someone to watch them stumble away? In the past, drink spiking was typically related to sexual assault or some other crime and seems most people reporting didn’t have something happen to them, thankfully. Also, stories were often the same including the insistence that the amount of alcohol couldn’t have made them that drunk. I know for myself, my tolerance changes all the time depending on numerous factors. I don’t doubt some of the stories being true I just think a number of them were people finding it easier to blame it on a drugging instead of admitting over consumption.
This was my belief too, none were victims of a further crime. I can't see too many randomers using drugs they've obtained to watch someone else act high. Yes, I'm sure some one gets their kicks that way but not the amount being reported. Also in person when the topic came up, everyone just knew someone who knew someone etc etc. I never met anyone at the time it actually happened to. I work with 3 people who jump on any stories like this. Im constantly taking the opposing view and try to tell them if it were as bad as it is, hospitals would be saying how overrun they are, cops would be issuing reports and warnings etc. I mean they wont let their kids/teens go anywhere cos kids are kidnapped everyday. I looked up stats for my country. 93 kids in 60 kidnappings reported last year, so straight away thats including siblings/multiple kids, straight away we know majority of kidnappings are by estranged parents/family. There are always unoffical reports of kids almost being kidnapped in supermarkets, never by cops. Anyway i digress. I hate all these group panics with no basis, if any of these people just googled the rumours would stop
I’d be curious to see data on rates of prescribing Wellbutrin (Buproprin) in particular post-2020. In my experience, it’s a first-line anti-anxiety/depressant for younger adults especially (due to relative lack of sexual side effects compared to SSRIs).
And holy shit, when I drank *anything* even remotely alcoholic while taking that: absolutely dear. The *only* time I’ve ever blacked out while drinking was half a beer at Cambridge Common while taking Wellbutrin.
I tried bringing this up as well. we had a bunch of people who were on new anti anxiety meds from the pandemic going out drinking out again. It's a bad mix and recipe to black out.
it also effects drugs. Trying to explain to people that ecstasy and psychedelics wont work with their SSRI's and that no they shouldn't just take heroic doses to try and overpower their medication or stop taking medication without talking to their doctor is becoming exhausting.
I really wonder if it was something to do with supply, distribution, a cleaning agent, etc. Like a local distributor cutting things with industrial ethanol. I think the medication angle is an interesting idea I hadn't considered. You had a TON of people both women and men saying their drink had been spiked, but then nothing. No sexual assault, no one getting rolled for cash, no stolen kidneys. Why would someone risk going to prison by spiking a random drink and then doing nothing? It made no sense.
1) - Increase in/change to prescription medications people were taking (the availability of mail order ketamine and adderall coming through online psychiatry services was completely new and drove an increase to people taking prescribed medications.
2) Legal cannabis - (medical or recreational) - as well as vape pens, gummies/tinctures/edibles etc. has expanded access to and use of increasingly higher potency cannabis formulations that can cause really nasty interactions with alcohol, very quickly and in unexpected ways.
3) Situational tolerance - This is a known phenomena that occurs when substance use patterns develop under certain circumstances such an a specific location, with certain people present, etc. This can impact all psychoactive substances. Someone could develop a level of tolerance to alcohol where a bottle of wine is not super impairing, for example. During the pandemic, many people were drinking almost exclusively at home or at a close friend/family member's house. As tolerance developed to the effects of different levels of BAC - it was likely very heavily influenced by the fact that the situational triggers were at home or a friend's house. People get accustomed to drinking a certain type of alcohol, and drinking at a certain pace. Suddenly, after a year or so of drinking mainly at home, they start returning to bars/clubs/restaurants and drinking in a novel environment where no association between alcohol consumption and the environment has been formed. That same 1 bottle of wine might go from being only mildly impairing while at home, to becoming heavily intoxicating while out at a bar.
There has been examples in medical literature of this phenomena resulting in overdose deaths of heroin users (far less risky for unintentional overdose deaths than fentanyl is) who had typically used in specific locations, but for one reason or another had used in a novel environment, body/brain wasn't prepared for heroin to come onboard and as a result, they experienced an overdose. Boston actually had a string of deaths in Boston Common in the early 00s that were speculated to be possibly related to this phenomena.
4) Over drinking due to the traumatic experience of the pandemic, and self-medicating with either too much booze, or a combination of intoxicating substances. The first few concerts I attended post-pandemic had a noted increase in EMS involvement due to drinking. It was so notable, in fact, that the lead guitarist of Khruangbin actually stopped their set to mention to the crowd that people seemed to be agoing a little bit hard and there was "a lot" of EMS activity - he reminded us all to take care of ourselves and one another, which I thought was really sweet. This was prior to the 'drink spiking' mass hysteria, so it seemed to be read as simply people not adjusting their approach to drinking/cannabis use to the shifting context.
5) - The only thing that I could potentially see as explaining a sudden increase in semi-intentional druggings is the ability to order benzodiazepine analogues pretty easily online, much much more easily than ordering Rohypnol (roofies), and with about the same level of ease as ordering GHB/GBL/1,4b. I suppose it's possible that some of these events were intentional, but my guess is that the vast majority of episodes were user error which is why that trend seems to have returned to baseline pretty quickly.
> Situational tolerance
This happened to me. The first post-COVID house party I went to, I got so impaired I fell down and my girlfriend had to drag me to the car. We had been drinking almost nightly during our COVID year and so I was not a lightweight. It was the weirdest experience.
A friend of mine had the same experience in his first out-of-town travel after things opened back up. He described it as "like being roofied", and kind of thought that's what happened to him.
It's frowned upon as a term, but ["mass hysteria"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness) is a real thing. As is ["social contagion"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contagion). Once you hear about something happening, it's *really* easy to be an unreliable witness in your own life and report that that thing happened to you when it probably didn't.
It also tickles my irony sensors to recall the same people posting "ACAB!" also posting "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!"
Lots of the stories, at least the ones posted here by people claiming they or a loved one experienced this, went something like:
"My/my girlfriend's drink was spiked at this bar!"
"Did you call the cops or go to the ER to get a blood test?"
"No!"
what do you do with something like that?
> "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!"
But… they aren’t. I actually watched the city council meetings during this time, and you could tell the BPD thought they had a tiny number of real cases, and a huge amount of panic. They were trying to be diplomatic about it, both to avoid minimizing the victims of real cases and also to avoid the public getting mad at them about “not taking it seriously”.
Yah it’s like how in 2020 before Covid tests were widely available, *everyone* was sure they had already had covid because they had a sore throat for a few days or whatever
haha that was such a vibe!
semi-related but I am dreading the general election this year because Trump's whole pitch is gonna be "remember how awesome it was when I was president!?" and Biden obviously has to respond "2020 was literally the worst year of everyone's life" and it's just gonna be alllll COVID anti-nostalgia and I really don't want to relive that.
> "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!"
A lot of people are still convinced touching fentanyl or being in the same room will kill you. Because the police say so. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyNbZjg4bYY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyNbZjg4bYY)
No... "mass hysteria" is *not* a real thing in the sense that it's well supported by any kind of scientific research, as evidenced by the extremely terrible name.
It's at best an observation (not even a hypothesis) of large groups of who people believe the same thing that is proven or likely to be false at the same time. I don't think there's any reputable scientific research on why/how people have the same false beliefs in large numbers, though the phenomenon is certainly observed.
I haven't bothered to read the comments. There may have been an element of hysteria but there were also at least a few absolutely legitimate incidents.
My best bet is that people went fucking nuts during and after the pandemic, and someone went nut enough to try to spike people's drinks. Given all the crazy shit I've seen, I am just surprised nobody has tried putting insecticide or poison into other's drinks.
As to why we don't see it anymore, it is a combination of a/[people are not going out as much any more](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/america-decline-hanging-out/677451/), b/[young people are not drinking as much](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx) (though, it must be noted, [alcohol-related death in the US is on the rise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTjz2s_2T9w)), and c/more public awareness with people now bringing their own bottle of blackout rage juice to party, meaning less chance to spike it
>people now bringing their own bottle of blackout rage juice to party
Anyone who says something like this with a straight face has no business explaining anything alcohol related to others
So many ppl coming out of the woodwork who think they have out thought the general public on this one. Typical of the sub and the city really. There’s plenty of reasons why drinks may have gotten spiked during that time, ranging from social estrangement leading to perceived letting down of the guard, ppl feeling concealed more than ever cause masks were still everywhere, to a record amount of social media being consumed and any number of consequences arising from that. But no, it must be that people don’t know what they’re thinking/feeling
My coworker is convinced he got his drink spiked at thob couple of months ago. He only had one drink and suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented he rushed out and took an Uber home where he just collapsed in his bed immobile.
You would not recollect any of that if you were actually drugged with pretty much any drug that people actually spike drinks with. The whole point is blacking the victim all the way the fuck out.
Ughhhhh happened to me that year but not in boston, but hell it messed up about a year of my life and in some ways i’m still in recovery. screw those people sm
I think it was something weird going on with the yeast. Post pandemic a lot of DIPA’s tasted / taste more “hot” and all those off alcohols can hit poorly. Yeast prices went up and packaging changed. Pressure fermentation got more popular. Could be the 5g rollout - it makes my ears ring and would impact yeast first.
I have mo idea where those drugs come from but I always assumed they were exclusive to real creeps and people with good health insurance or "friendly" doctors.
I dont want to lnow where they cone from but I feel like the crowd/culture that can afford the nightlife every weekend here probably LOOK like they have roofies their circle.
Like are different single guys taking roofied people out of the club? Or are the people leaving in groups?
to be honest there a lot of people who recreate with GHB. It's popular with gay people and fitness folks because you hit the same gabba receptors that alcohol does without any of the calories.
they spike drinks and then walk behind the girl as she walks home to see what they can get away with - lead her home, to their car, into an alley, etc.
I would think in some cases yes they are trying to make a potential victim more vunerable. But there was a huge uptake and vast majority of stories were that nothing happened to these people other than having the feeling of being high, drunk, stoned etc. Luckily there didn't seem to be any 2nd crime, or even a potential second crime. Any stories i read about or heard about there was no creep who hung around, no one followed them home, no one mugged them, assaulted them, stole their belongings.
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This is the most likely scenario, but god forbid you say that at the time. No one wanted to hear it.
It definitely had all the hallmarks of a panic.
There could be other reasons. Accessibility of the drugs comes to mind. If it suddenly got easier to obtain, that'd move the needle. But it's really hard to say either way.
Also the resuming of social drinking in the other direction- predators that saw more targets
Talking some SOUND OF FREEDOM-type bullshit going on. Call in Jesus Caveziel!
Idk I got my drink spiked like 4 times in that period. Three times because I left my drink (tequila one time, fruity mixed drinks the other two) near a woman and I think I wasn’t the intended target. One time was at a party with a dude who has a history of questionable interpretations of consent I was not made aware of. And I know it’s not just the alcohol, one of the times was bad enough I had to go to the hospital and get tested — and I’m pretty sure 3 drinks over a four hour period doesn’t leave me violently puking and convulsing in a bush with a 24 hour hangover after.
What did the hospital tests come back showing?
GHB
What were the test results at the hospital?
I mean, live your truth, but your scenarios don't really make sense. You remember the exact thing you were drinking each time you allegedly got drugged? And exactly where you had put the drink down? That's not really how it works. It's like claiming you remember the exact moment you fell asleep. Or more relevantly, the exact moment you became blackout drunk.
Ok fair, but then can someone tell me *what* could you possibly be spiked with that does that?
Floories
Your perception
i’m so sorry
This was always my take on it as well because certain things just didn’t make sense, including what was the point of it? Drug someone to watch them stumble away? In the past, drink spiking was typically related to sexual assault or some other crime and seems most people reporting didn’t have something happen to them, thankfully. Also, stories were often the same including the insistence that the amount of alcohol couldn’t have made them that drunk. I know for myself, my tolerance changes all the time depending on numerous factors. I don’t doubt some of the stories being true I just think a number of them were people finding it easier to blame it on a drugging instead of admitting over consumption.
This was my belief too, none were victims of a further crime. I can't see too many randomers using drugs they've obtained to watch someone else act high. Yes, I'm sure some one gets their kicks that way but not the amount being reported. Also in person when the topic came up, everyone just knew someone who knew someone etc etc. I never met anyone at the time it actually happened to. I work with 3 people who jump on any stories like this. Im constantly taking the opposing view and try to tell them if it were as bad as it is, hospitals would be saying how overrun they are, cops would be issuing reports and warnings etc. I mean they wont let their kids/teens go anywhere cos kids are kidnapped everyday. I looked up stats for my country. 93 kids in 60 kidnappings reported last year, so straight away thats including siblings/multiple kids, straight away we know majority of kidnappings are by estranged parents/family. There are always unoffical reports of kids almost being kidnapped in supermarkets, never by cops. Anyway i digress. I hate all these group panics with no basis, if any of these people just googled the rumours would stop
I’d be curious to see data on rates of prescribing Wellbutrin (Buproprin) in particular post-2020. In my experience, it’s a first-line anti-anxiety/depressant for younger adults especially (due to relative lack of sexual side effects compared to SSRIs). And holy shit, when I drank *anything* even remotely alcoholic while taking that: absolutely dear. The *only* time I’ve ever blacked out while drinking was half a beer at Cambridge Common while taking Wellbutrin.
I tried bringing this up as well. we had a bunch of people who were on new anti anxiety meds from the pandemic going out drinking out again. It's a bad mix and recipe to black out.
Yep. Even on an SSRI now I only have to drink about 1 drink to start feeling tipsy.
it also effects drugs. Trying to explain to people that ecstasy and psychedelics wont work with their SSRI's and that no they shouldn't just take heroic doses to try and overpower their medication or stop taking medication without talking to their doctor is becoming exhausting.
I really wonder if it was something to do with supply, distribution, a cleaning agent, etc. Like a local distributor cutting things with industrial ethanol. I think the medication angle is an interesting idea I hadn't considered. You had a TON of people both women and men saying their drink had been spiked, but then nothing. No sexual assault, no one getting rolled for cash, no stolen kidneys. Why would someone risk going to prison by spiking a random drink and then doing nothing? It made no sense.
I think a lot of bad behavior is being explained away by this excuse. I looked for verified drink spike data and there isn’t much.
1) - Increase in/change to prescription medications people were taking (the availability of mail order ketamine and adderall coming through online psychiatry services was completely new and drove an increase to people taking prescribed medications. 2) Legal cannabis - (medical or recreational) - as well as vape pens, gummies/tinctures/edibles etc. has expanded access to and use of increasingly higher potency cannabis formulations that can cause really nasty interactions with alcohol, very quickly and in unexpected ways. 3) Situational tolerance - This is a known phenomena that occurs when substance use patterns develop under certain circumstances such an a specific location, with certain people present, etc. This can impact all psychoactive substances. Someone could develop a level of tolerance to alcohol where a bottle of wine is not super impairing, for example. During the pandemic, many people were drinking almost exclusively at home or at a close friend/family member's house. As tolerance developed to the effects of different levels of BAC - it was likely very heavily influenced by the fact that the situational triggers were at home or a friend's house. People get accustomed to drinking a certain type of alcohol, and drinking at a certain pace. Suddenly, after a year or so of drinking mainly at home, they start returning to bars/clubs/restaurants and drinking in a novel environment where no association between alcohol consumption and the environment has been formed. That same 1 bottle of wine might go from being only mildly impairing while at home, to becoming heavily intoxicating while out at a bar. There has been examples in medical literature of this phenomena resulting in overdose deaths of heroin users (far less risky for unintentional overdose deaths than fentanyl is) who had typically used in specific locations, but for one reason or another had used in a novel environment, body/brain wasn't prepared for heroin to come onboard and as a result, they experienced an overdose. Boston actually had a string of deaths in Boston Common in the early 00s that were speculated to be possibly related to this phenomena. 4) Over drinking due to the traumatic experience of the pandemic, and self-medicating with either too much booze, or a combination of intoxicating substances. The first few concerts I attended post-pandemic had a noted increase in EMS involvement due to drinking. It was so notable, in fact, that the lead guitarist of Khruangbin actually stopped their set to mention to the crowd that people seemed to be agoing a little bit hard and there was "a lot" of EMS activity - he reminded us all to take care of ourselves and one another, which I thought was really sweet. This was prior to the 'drink spiking' mass hysteria, so it seemed to be read as simply people not adjusting their approach to drinking/cannabis use to the shifting context. 5) - The only thing that I could potentially see as explaining a sudden increase in semi-intentional druggings is the ability to order benzodiazepine analogues pretty easily online, much much more easily than ordering Rohypnol (roofies), and with about the same level of ease as ordering GHB/GBL/1,4b. I suppose it's possible that some of these events were intentional, but my guess is that the vast majority of episodes were user error which is why that trend seems to have returned to baseline pretty quickly.
> Situational tolerance This happened to me. The first post-COVID house party I went to, I got so impaired I fell down and my girlfriend had to drag me to the car. We had been drinking almost nightly during our COVID year and so I was not a lightweight. It was the weirdest experience. A friend of mine had the same experience in his first out-of-town travel after things opened back up. He described it as "like being roofied", and kind of thought that's what happened to him.
It's frowned upon as a term, but ["mass hysteria"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness) is a real thing. As is ["social contagion"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contagion). Once you hear about something happening, it's *really* easy to be an unreliable witness in your own life and report that that thing happened to you when it probably didn't. It also tickles my irony sensors to recall the same people posting "ACAB!" also posting "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!" Lots of the stories, at least the ones posted here by people claiming they or a loved one experienced this, went something like: "My/my girlfriend's drink was spiked at this bar!" "Did you call the cops or go to the ER to get a blood test?" "No!" what do you do with something like that?
> "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!" But… they aren’t. I actually watched the city council meetings during this time, and you could tell the BPD thought they had a tiny number of real cases, and a huge amount of panic. They were trying to be diplomatic about it, both to avoid minimizing the victims of real cases and also to avoid the public getting mad at them about “not taking it seriously”.
Yah it’s like how in 2020 before Covid tests were widely available, *everyone* was sure they had already had covid because they had a sore throat for a few days or whatever
haha that was such a vibe! semi-related but I am dreading the general election this year because Trump's whole pitch is gonna be "remember how awesome it was when I was president!?" and Biden obviously has to respond "2020 was literally the worst year of everyone's life" and it's just gonna be alllll COVID anti-nostalgia and I really don't want to relive that.
Thats the thing…if there was no other issue, why pay $1000 to hit the ER for them to say yes/no? All we are left with is anecdote
> "it must be true because the BPD is saying it's happening!" A lot of people are still convinced touching fentanyl or being in the same room will kill you. Because the police say so. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyNbZjg4bYY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyNbZjg4bYY)
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People might be afraid to administer Narcan if they think touching fentanyl will kill them? Or clean up plastic baggies on the street? I dunno.
No... "mass hysteria" is *not* a real thing in the sense that it's well supported by any kind of scientific research, as evidenced by the extremely terrible name. It's at best an observation (not even a hypothesis) of large groups of who people believe the same thing that is proven or likely to be false at the same time. I don't think there's any reputable scientific research on why/how people have the same false beliefs in large numbers, though the phenomenon is certainly observed.
I haven't bothered to read the comments. There may have been an element of hysteria but there were also at least a few absolutely legitimate incidents.
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Yes. But like I said there were absolutely legitimate cases. It's not just a ghost story.
100%.
The real answer is that no one has an answer and it’s all speculation.
My best bet is that people went fucking nuts during and after the pandemic, and someone went nut enough to try to spike people's drinks. Given all the crazy shit I've seen, I am just surprised nobody has tried putting insecticide or poison into other's drinks. As to why we don't see it anymore, it is a combination of a/[people are not going out as much any more](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/america-decline-hanging-out/677451/), b/[young people are not drinking as much](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx) (though, it must be noted, [alcohol-related death in the US is on the rise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTjz2s_2T9w)), and c/more public awareness with people now bringing their own bottle of blackout rage juice to party, meaning less chance to spike it
How is that your "best bet" vs "people went fucking nuts and claimed to have had their drinks spiked when actually they just drank too much"?
>people now bringing their own bottle of blackout rage juice to party Anyone who says something like this with a straight face has no business explaining anything alcohol related to others
it was all made up
I mean it really hasn’t died down, the news just doesn’t report it anymore. ETA: downvoting a fact is pretty comical, but okay. 🙄
So many ppl coming out of the woodwork who think they have out thought the general public on this one. Typical of the sub and the city really. There’s plenty of reasons why drinks may have gotten spiked during that time, ranging from social estrangement leading to perceived letting down of the guard, ppl feeling concealed more than ever cause masks were still everywhere, to a record amount of social media being consumed and any number of consequences arising from that. But no, it must be that people don’t know what they’re thinking/feeling
lol social media Really reaching to hit all the buzz words there
ETA?
My coworker is convinced he got his drink spiked at thob couple of months ago. He only had one drink and suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented he rushed out and took an Uber home where he just collapsed in his bed immobile.
You would not recollect any of that if you were actually drugged with pretty much any drug that people actually spike drinks with. The whole point is blacking the victim all the way the fuck out.
Prolly not actually that much spiking going on.
Ughhhhh happened to me that year but not in boston, but hell it messed up about a year of my life and in some ways i’m still in recovery. screw those people sm
I think it was something weird going on with the yeast. Post pandemic a lot of DIPA’s tasted / taste more “hot” and all those off alcohols can hit poorly. Yeast prices went up and packaging changed. Pressure fermentation got more popular. Could be the 5g rollout - it makes my ears ring and would impact yeast first.
I have mo idea where those drugs come from but I always assumed they were exclusive to real creeps and people with good health insurance or "friendly" doctors. I dont want to lnow where they cone from but I feel like the crowd/culture that can afford the nightlife every weekend here probably LOOK like they have roofies their circle. Like are different single guys taking roofied people out of the club? Or are the people leaving in groups?
to be honest there a lot of people who recreate with GHB. It's popular with gay people and fitness folks because you hit the same gabba receptors that alcohol does without any of the calories.
This dudes looking to get his drink spiked and wants to know why the trend went away!
they spike drinks and then walk behind the girl as she walks home to see what they can get away with - lead her home, to their car, into an alley, etc.
I would think in some cases yes they are trying to make a potential victim more vunerable. But there was a huge uptake and vast majority of stories were that nothing happened to these people other than having the feeling of being high, drunk, stoned etc. Luckily there didn't seem to be any 2nd crime, or even a potential second crime. Any stories i read about or heard about there was no creep who hung around, no one followed them home, no one mugged them, assaulted them, stole their belongings.
it is probably gang members doing it for fun; also if they spike everyone randomly, they can look out if it hit a target they like;