--- title: Drink Spiking May Be More Prevalent Than Many Believe description: A new study suggests drink spiking—drugging someone by slipping a drug into their drink—may be more widespread than previously believed. canonical: https://time.com/4349992/how-often-drink-spiking-actually-occurs-according-to-the-latest-research/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-26T21:41:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:36.205Z og:title: How Often Drink Spiking Actually Occurs, According to the Latest Research og:description: It’s more common than you might assume og:url: https://time.com/4349992/how-often-drink-spiking-actually-occurs-according-to-the-latest-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37511627eadc99d5/69889549196cf41a8f03bca0/drink-spinking-date-rape.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Man Drugging Woman's Drink In Bar og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Often Drink Spiking Actually Occurs, According to the Latest Research twitter:description: It’s more common than you might assume twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37511627eadc99d5/69889549196cf41a8f03bca0/drink-spinking-date-rape.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Often Drink Spiking Actually Occurs, According to the Latest Research  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 26, 2016 9:41 PM UTC  Monkey Business Images— Getty Images/Monkey Business  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks May 26, 2016 9:41 PM UTC A [new study](http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/vio-vio0000060.pdf) published in the journal _Psychology of Violence_ on Monday suggests drink spiking—drugging someone by illicitly slipping a drug like GHB or Xanax into their beverage—may be significantly more [widespread](http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/vio-vio0000060.pdf) than previously believed. In a survey of more than 6,000 students at three U.S. universities, 462 respondents, or 7.8%, self-reported that they’d been drugged before. In contrast, 83 students (1.4%) said they have drugged someone else. Of those who reported having been drugged, 12.1% reported being the victims of “unwanted sexual touching,” and 5.4% reported what study authors term “forced sexual intercourse.” University of South Carolina women’s studies professor Suzanne Swan, who led the study, [told](https://broadly.vice.com/en%5Fus/article/men-spike-womens-drinks-more-often-than-you-think) the website Broadly that she, like many, long assumed this type of infraction was extremely rare. “I had no idea that \[drink spiking\] was happening until students started bringing it up from time to time,” said Swan. “Since there’s hardly any research in this area, I decided to get some data and figure out what was going on.” According to the findings, about twice as many women report having been drugged as men. Among the small subset of students who said they had drugged someone or knew someone else who had drugged someone, 45 were female, while 38 were male. The study depends on self-reported survey data, and there is [past](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6440589/Date-rape-drink-spiking-an-urban-legend.html) research to suggest that drugging may be over-reported since the effects of binge drinking can be confused with having been drugged. 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