A man may have inadvertently thwarted an attempted date rape scenario, thanks to the appeal of a free tequila shot.
Nick Fone, 24, said he was out drinking in the small hours of Thursday morning when he was the unsuspecting victim of a spiked drink.
"I was just chatting to these girls when a guy came along with a shot of tequila. He offered it to both of them and they both turned it down."
Mr Fone said he thought it was weird that even though there were two girls, he approached them with one single shot, "it was pretty ballsy."
He said although he doesn't remember what the man looked like, he recalled he was a "big guy, he had one of those green jackets on with a German flag on the shoulder and longish greasy hair."
Mr Fone said when the girls declined the tequila shot he volunteered to take it, and it was given to him reluctantly.
"After I had it the guy came up to me, the music was blaring and he was saying something to me, I couldn't understand what he was saying and then I finally caught it, 'Rohypnol's in there'."
Mr Fone said the man quickly left after that, leaving him standing there processing what he had just been told, "I Googled it on my phone and then thought 'f***'.
"I ran to the bathroom and tried to throw it up but it wasn't working, I couldn't get anything out."
He told his friends and the girls at the bar who were shocked, "I just said, 'oh well, better me than you' and then she said, 'yeah, that's what I was thinking' ... It basically killed the night."
"In the space of 10 to 20 minutes I just got really drunk." He said he took a taxi home, then started to feel drowsy and passed out within the hour, not waking up until 10 to 12 hours later.
Mr Fone said he elected not to go to the hospital as when he Google searched the drug he deemed that he would be in no real danger as long as he got himself home while he was still awake.
A spokeswoman for the Wellington Police Watchhouse said it was once in a blue moon that drink spiking was reported.
She said the victims were usually female and come in up to two weeks after the incident when it is too late to police to prove anything through medical checks.
A spokesman for Wellington Hospital said there were no statistics kept on how many people are dealt with by the Emergency Department due to drink spiking.
ROHYPNOL
Slang words for Rohypnol include rowies, roofie and roaches and it is also known as the date rape drug
It is prescribed under strict guidelines for the treatment of sleeping disorders and as a pre-anesthetic. It is usually prescribed only for a short time because of its likelihood for dependency
Mild side effects include weakness, nausea, drowsiness, lack of coordination, blurred or double vision, hangover or headache and poor concentration
Serious side effects include confusion, disorientation, depression, rage or excitement, and bizarre or uninhibited behaviour
Serious symptoms are rare and medical attention should be sought if they occur
Benzodiazepines, the group of drugs Rohypnol is in, are known for their euphoric effect
The effects of benzodiazepines may start to be felt within an hour of consumption and, depending if they are short, intermediate or long acting, they can last from two and a-half to 160 hours.
Source: Drug Addiction, Research and Education
