I narrowly escaped drinking a ‘spiked’ drink with a tablet fizzing in it

What a buzzkill.

An unsuspecting UK woman claims she barely escaped being a “spiking” victim after her eagle-eyed friend spotted a “tablet” dissolving in her drink.

Last month, Rachel Cullen was out on the town and ordered vodka, lime and lemonade while at the Angel-JD Wetherspoon in Basingstoke, Hampshire. However, when Cullen returned to her friend Sophie Luke at their table, she noticed unusual fizzing in Luke’s drink.

When she looked closer, Cullen saw a white pill at the bottom of the glass, and rushed to tell the bar staff.

“It’s frightening to think what could have happened,” Cullen, 24, told Kennedy News. “As soon as we saw it’d been spiked we said, ‘Oh my god, what’s just happened?’ “

Thankfully, Luke, 21, never drank from the allegedly drugged beverage.

“We were just in complete shock. It was scary, I don’t like thinking about it. It’s just awful that it happened,” Cullen continued.

Upon reporting the incident to the bartender, the pals’ drinks were replaced with two new ones, complete with anti-roofie lids. The manager even checked security-camera footage to find a culprit — only to find that the bar and smoking area were in the video’s blind spots.

“For the next 15 minutes after that, I went round every table outside telling people to please watch their drinks and handing out those drink lids,” Cullen said.

Now, Cullen is warning others who could become potential victims, while the Wetherspoon team promised to display warnings on the bar’s premises.

“It’s one of those things where I wasn’t immediately paying attention to what was happening with the drinks because you don’t expect it to happen,” said Cullen, who posted the harrowing clip to social media in a bid to get people to “watch their drinks,” especially younger people. “I know binge-drinking has become quite ingrained in our culture in England, but just be careful with your drinks.”

“What if it happened to your daughter?” she added.

Out of a survey of more than 900 people, more than 50% of women said they’d been a victim of food or drink spiking, according to American Addiction Centers.

Drugs are easily snuck into drinks at crowded bars by assailants intent on rape, and the onset of symptoms for the victim often happens quickly. Dizziness, slurred speech, having trouble moving and feeling nauseous, confused or sleepy are the most common side effects of drink spiking — which could be confused for drinking too much.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon told Kennedy News that the bar was aware of the situation and would be happy to cooperate with the authorities.

“We have reiterated to our pub team the need for vigilance and posters will be displayed on the premises advising customers to be aware of any suspicious behavior around their drinks,” he said, adding that drink covers are available for any customer upon request.

As for Cullen, she warned being drugged could feel like having one alcoholic drink too many. Pre-pandemic, she said she had a higher tolerance for alcohol, but didn’t considered exactly how drunk she was getting.

“When you’ve been spiked, it can be very easily perceived that you are just drunk, so it may not always be easy to spot when you’re out casually drinking with your friends,” she said. “I wouldn’t say don’t have fun, just be aware of your surroundings and who you’ve got around you.”