News Article: June 27, 2006
June 27, 2006
Drink doping cases spike in Vancouver
By MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS
Summer's here and the drinking is dangerous.
That's the message Vancouver police are delivering after two date-rape drug incidents over the weekend.
A 20-year-old Mexican exchange student was catching a World Cup game Saturday in the 1200 block of Robson Street when a "chubby" Mexican man invited the student back to his apartment for drinks. The victim said he had
a few more drinks with the stranger and the next thing he knew he woke up in the basement of an English Bay apartment with no shoes, cellphone or wallet.
The second incident involved a young woman who went to a bar at 2330 Kingsway with a friend Friday. The two joined a group of 15 Costa Rican men, but one of the women left after an argument. The other woman told police she felt herself losing control and then woke alone in a motel room. She had vague recollections of sexual assault.
Vancouver police Sgt. Anne Drennan said there is always a spike in drink tampering during the summer, but the problem is many people are too embarrassed to report it.
Owen Cameron of TreoScope, which is affiliated with BarWatch, said more than 90 per cent of drink-doping cases go unnoticed.
"It seems like common sense but go around a nightclub tonight and see how many people leave their tables unattended while they're dancing or in the washroom," he said. "It's scary stuff."