{"id":18714,"date":"2025-02-08T17:31:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T16:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18714"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:08:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:08:24","slug":"washington-could-require-bars-to-carry-spiked-drink-drug-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/02\/washington-could-require-bars-to-carry-spiked-drink-drug-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington could require bars to carry spiked drink drug tests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By: <\/span>Jake Goldstein-Street\u00a0<\/span>– February 7, 2025\u00a0<\/span>4:01 am<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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They\u2019re not old enough yet to drink in bars, but a group of Washington students wants to make nightlife in the state safer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A bill in the state Legislature requested by Lake Washington High School students aims to protect people from drink spiking.<\/p>\n

The measure would require some establishments selling alcohol, including bars and nightclubs, to have testing kits on hand so patrons can see if their drinks have been drugged.\u00a0Sponsors amended the bill this week in light of concerns of overreach lodged by a hospitality trade group.<\/p>\n

Businesses covered by the proposal would also have to post a notice that test kits are available.<\/p>\n

Bars would sell the test strips, stickers or straws to customers for a \u201creasonable amount based on the wholesale cost of the device.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usually, the tests look for drugs like Rohypnol, also known as \u201croofies.\u201d When placed in alcoholic drinks, the drugs can incapacitate people unexpectedly so they can\u2019t resist sexual assault, according to the federal\u00a0Drug Enforcement Administration. The tests also detect ketamine and gamma hydroxybutyric acid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group of young women entering college, we are scared for our future,\u201d Lake Washington senior Ava\u00a0Brisimitzis told a Senate panel last week. \u201cWhile nightlife is still years away, there are thousands of Washingtonians right now affected by this problem. No one should question whether or not they might return home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 5330\u00a0would take effect Jan. 1, 2026. It has a committee vote set for Friday.<\/p>\n

The proposal is patterned after a\u00a0similar law passed in California\u00a0that went into effect last July. That law affected 2,400 establishments.<\/p>\n

When a drink is spiked, \u201cmany times, it\u2019s too late to prevent that person from falling victim to another crime, and that\u2019s why prevention awareness is so important,\u201d said Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, the bill\u2019s prime sponsor.<\/p>\n

Critics said the original bill in Washington goes far beyond the California law. The initial version included taverns, nightclubs, theaters, hotels and more. The California legislation only applies to establishments like nightclubs that exclude minors and aren\u2019t required to serve food.<\/p>\n

Last week, Washington Hospitality Association lobbyist Julia Gorton said the bill \u201cneeds many more conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hospitality association would support a version like California\u2019s law, said Jeff Reading, a spokesperson for the trade group.<\/p>\n

Now, a revised version of the bill looks to more closely align Washington\u2019s proposal with California\u2019s by focusing on establishments that don\u2019t allow minors.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s unusual liquor licensing system has made drafting the bill difficult, Dhingra said. The state simply has too many types of licenses. She wants to \u201cclean up\u201d Washington\u2019s liquor license statute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really not meant to be onerous, but really meant to be a partnership to make sure all the patrons are safe,\u201d Dhingra told the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee last week.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s legislation also stated the signage must say\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here.\u201d But Dhingra felt that language may be seen as blaming the victim, so the new version of the Washington bill doesn\u2019t require specific verbiage in the sign.<\/p>\n

A 2016 study published in the\u00a0American Psychological Association\u2019s journal Psychology of Violence\u00a0found nearly 8% of 6,064 students surveyed at three universities believed they\u2019d been drugged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: https:\/\/washingtonstatestandard.com\/briefs\/washington-could-require-bars-to-carry-spiked-drink-drug-tests\/<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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By: Jake Goldstein-Street\u00a0– February 7, 2025\u00a04:01 am They\u2019re not old enough yet to drink in bars, but a group of Washington students wants to make nightlife in the state safer. A bill in the state Legislature requested by Lake Washington High School students aims to protect people from drink spiking. The measure would require some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,129,64,120,127,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol","category-culture","category-health","category-mental-health","category-sexual-behaviour","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}