Spiking in Scotland: Edinburgh drink spiking victims call for change after 'crushing' police failures

Two Edinburgh women are calling for urgent changes to how police handle drink spiking cases after saying they feel let down by authorities.

The women, who both believe they were spiked at two separate Edinburgh city centre bars, have said they were left “frustrated” by Police Scotland after reporting their cases.

Statistics, published by Drinkaware and Anglia Ruskin University in November 2024, claim that only one in ten UK drink spiking incidents are reported to police.

In 2025, further Drinkaware research revealed that 1.5 per cent of adults in Scotland, approximately 67,000, reported being a victim of drink spiking in the last year - with campaigners believing the figure to be much higher.

Scottish-based charity Spike Aware UK Mandy and Colin Mackie have recently spoken of their frustration after Justice Secretary Angela Constance announced Scotland would not be following the UK Government in creating a standalone spiking offence.

This standalone offence, the couple said, would make it easier to prosecute the spiking perpetrator which would in turn lead to more victims coming forward.

Maria Šoć was at an Edinburgh bar after a pub quiz when she believes her drink was spiked. | Supplied

Out of the 90 per cent of those who did not report spiking to the police, approximately half said they “didn’t see the point”.

It was the end of October of this year when Edinburgh resident Maria Šoć, 28, was at a pub quiz at a city centre bar when she then stuck around with some friends afterwards for a few drinks.

When her friends left for the night, Maria stayed to finish her drink but, all of a sudden, she quickly started feeling “really off”, couldn’t control her emotions, words or body, and eventually managed to meet a friend who walked her home.

“When I woke up at home, I felt completely awful. I couldn’t speak more than ten words a minute for the next few days,” she said.

“That’s when I called the police and said ‘I think I got spiked’.”

She was told by police to go to the hospital to get checked out. However, when she was seen to, staff asked her why she was there, and said they couldn’t do any tests but her vitals looked good so she could go home.

Maria said the confusion from this experience was “frustrating”.

It was then the next day when police officers - whom she described as “kind” and “understanding” - arrived at her home, took her statement, and conducted tests.

She said the pair of officers said they would check the CCTV footage.

The bar said they keep the footage for two weeks so, as soon as the police arrive, the officers would be able to watch it back.

‘It absolutely crushed me that they didn’t even bother’

Maria said: “So the next time I saw my friend, I asked if the police had come to see the footage and she said no.

“That absolutely crushed me when I found out that they didn’t even bother to stop by and ask for that.

“So that’s my one gripe with the police was that they couldn’t even bother to do that one thing that they said they would do.

“The officers were very kind but what does that mean if they don’t do the due diligence?

“Nobody goes around spiking drinks because they’re half-sure they’re going to get away with it - they know they can.”

The University of Edinburgh graduate said she felt it was “very easy” for spiking to be dismissed as one of the “lesser crimes”.

“That feeling of abject powerlessness was still just shocking.

Maria said she never heard back from Police Scotland regarding her case.

A Police Scotland spokesperson told The Scotsman: “We received a report relating to a suspected spiking incident in Edinburgh on Tuesday, October 30, 2025.

“Enquiries are ongoing and the complainer will be kept updated as the investigation progresses.”

Meanwhile, Alison* was at her work Christmas night out at the end of 2024 when she became a victim.

Alison said: “Within five or ten minutes, I went from being jolly and a bit tipsy to being absolutely paralytic.”

Her messages to her partner turned into “absolute gibberish” within minutes as she asked for him to pick her up, Alison said. Then, later, when she watched back Ring doorbell footage from outside her flat, she said it was “quite eerie” to watch herself arrive home when she had no recollection of it.

She said: “The next day I kind of had this attitude in my head of ‘well, nothing happened so it’s fine, there’s worse situations to be in’.

“I don’t know if it’s because it’s not spoken about so much that I played it down.”

It was then a few days later when, on a day where her partner had left the house, Alison was left on her own for the first time and “out of nowhere” burst into tears. She said this was the moment she realised the incident was having more of an effect on her than she initially thought, and then called 101.

It was a few days later when police officers arrived at her home to take her statement and do the tests, Alison said it was “not an enjoyable experience”.

‘I felt like they were trying to trip me up’

She said: “As a female, I just feel like the experience wasn’t good. They didn’t take it very seriously and I actually left feeling more upset about the situation than I had beforehand.

“How I felt, and I was expecting it, was that they were trying to catch me out.

“Like trying to make me trip up, get a timing wrong.

“They were asking me how many drinks I had, saying: ‘are you sure you only had that much?’ as if I was wasting their time because I was just a silly lassie who went out and drank too much.

“I remember thinking to myself: I’m never going to them [Police Scotland] for help again.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson told The Scotsman: “We received a report relating to a suspected spiking incident in Edinburgh on Saturday, December 21, 2024.

“Enquiries were carried out and are now complete. The complainer was updated.

“Any new information will be assessed.”

Spiking victim didn’t want to discourage others coming forward

“Although it wasn’t a nice experience, I am still glad that I reported it,” she added.

“I didn’t want to plaster it online that it was a terrible experience as I didn’t want to discourage other people from coming forward.

“I want people to report it but to have an expectation that it’s not necessarily going to go how you want it to go.”

Police Scotland: ‘clear protocols in place to ensure thorough investigations carried out’

When asked to comment, a Police Scotland spokesperson said: “The welfare of the victims is always of paramount importance.

“Police Scotland has clear protocols in place to ensure full and thorough investigations are carried out in all reported incidents.

“We also work with a range of partners, both locally and nationally, to ensure licensed premises are safe spaces for all, and this includes through the continued delivery of ByStander Awareness training.

“We would encourage anyone who believes they have had their drink spiked or been assaulted in this way to contact Police Scotland on 101 or in an emergency 999.”

*Name has been changed