Spiking drinks -- how about straws to detect when a drink is spiked?

[saretta9999]

TL;DR

I am a Graphic design student in London, and a project require us to investigate i the subject matter we've chosen.

Hi everyone, I am developing a project to raise awareness about drink spiking. I was thinking what if we could create sone sort of straws that turns on another colour when the drink is being spiked? Currently is completely hypothetical, but I would like to understand if
concretely is possible. If so, would be best to have the straws with lines (which would change colour) or any design could be applied?(like stars, or typography). As well which colour would be actually doable?

thank you for your help
Sara

 

[TeethWhitener]

https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news...ou-if-your-drink-has-been-spiked-3633989.html
This seems to be from several years ago. Dunno if the company is still around.

 

[DrJohn]

The commonest way to spike a drink is to add more alcohol. As people in bars tend to drink alcohol, I can't see this working very well.

 

[DaveC426913]

The commonest way to spike a drink is to add more alcohol. As people in bars tend to drink alcohol, I can't see this working very well.

This honestly never occurred to me.

I mean, I guess,,, but is it done? Is it done commonly? (I mean, beyond spiking the punch bowl.)

 

[TeethWhitener]

The commonest way to spike a drink is to add more alcohol. As people in bars tend to drink alcohol, I can't see this working very well.

This is like saying that most DUI’s happen under the influence of alcohol so it makes no sense to worry about any other drugs. The point is harm reduction. OP’s idea is not a bad one.

 

[DrJohn]

The police say that adding an extra shot to a drink, say a drink that had a large amount of Cola or fruit juice and a single shot of vodka is the most widely practised form of drink spiking. Typically ordering the next drink with a double instead of the single requested. The victim happily drinks what they think is a low alcohol drink but ends up drinking twice as much all evening.
Trying to stop the much rarer ways of spiking a drink such as adding a drug WILL prevent a small number of cases. The shocking cases involving drugs do get a lot of publicity, making people think it is the commonest way, but it is not.
Stopping the way used 80% or more of the time would be a lot better.

 

[TeethWhitener]

Yes and preventing people from spiking drinks in the first place would be even better than that. As I said, the point is harm reduction.

@saretta9999, you seem to be interested in solving problems rather than merely stating them, so if you want to solve @DrJohn ’s problem, I suggest a good place to start is solvatochromism. It’s when a substance changes color depending on what solvent it is exposed to.

 

[256bits]

Summary:: I am a Graphic design student in London, and a project require us to investigate i the subject matter we've chosen.

Hi everyone, I am developing a project to raise awareness about drink spiking. I was thinking what if we could create sone sort of straws that turns on another colour when the drink is being spiked? Currently is completely hypothetical, but I would like to understand if
concretely is possible. If so, would be best to have the straws with lines (which would change colour) or any design could be applied?(like stars, or typography). As well which colour would be actually doable?

thank you for your help
Sara

There have been some products developed for this.
By this, if you mean spiking a drink with extra alcohol, hallucinogen, psychedelics, or any other drug or chemical substance, to alter the consciousness state of an individual probably for nefarious reasons, and being administered unknowingly by the targeted individual.

Products include napkins, coasters, nail polish, key fobs, light sensitive.
We have heard about them and then they seem to vanish from the public eye.
Probably because they are not as user friendly as one would think.
Within a party situation( party can be in a bar, festival, house party, ... ) people do not stay in one location for long, which negates the coaster and napkin solution as being completely viable. Also, how often should one dip their fingernail or fob to check their drink. Or in darkened scenarios, does the test stand out significantly.

The glass and stir stick seem practical, but one needs to keep the same glass and/or stir stick with each drink serving. And keep an eye on it. If one gets up and goes dancing, on return can one be sure the stick/glass have not been changed to a non-testing version but with similar look.

The idea is OK, as far as attempting to solve a problem.
But the practicality suffers from the setting and the testing capability of the individual.
The products assume a rational individual.
With alcohol around is that really the case?

Plus they suffer from negative testing bias.
If one uses a product and test results continue to turn up as negative, the assumed risk factor diminishes to zero after continued usage. With no apparent assumed risk, the product is dropped by the individual.

Still, as a graphic designer, you can investigate the chemical signatures for some of the situations that concern you, and design the stick for dancing situations ie a stick worn around the neck so you never lose it for example. I can see something like that being, or could/ should be, promoted at student functions.