I got spiked on purpose to show the horrific reality – within minutes I was locked in my body and couldn’t speak
A BRAVE reporter volunteered to be spiked on camera for a Channel 4 documentary to show the effects.
Daisy Maskell, a TV and radio presenter from North London, participated in The Truth About Spiking after discovering about half the people she knows have been victims of the crime.
She wanted viewers to be able to see what the reality of having an unknown drug in your system is like, and was surprised by the results.
The 23-year-old shared: "I knew I wanted to make a film because victims weren’t receiving the support or justice, but I also wanted to do something drastic as well because it is an under reported crime and I also wanted to show people the effects of drink spiking and the things to look out for."
Exeter professor Celia Morgan who is an expert in psychedelic drugs kept an eye on Daisy as she drank a non-alcoholic beverage mixed with a safe dose of a substance commonly used for spiking.
Even though she was in a controlled environment, the reporter was shocked by how much the drug affected her.
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She told : "The first symptom was my jaw locking up and it was so quick. It was within a few minutes of having the drink that my speech started to slur and after that I began to almost disassociate from the environment I was in.
"I could hear words coming out of my mouth, but it was almost like a delay hearing them. I didn’t feel very present – I felt very withdrawn and locked in."
Even more surprisingly Daisy realised that from the outside she didn't appear that affected, despite the fact that she was losing control of herself mentally.
She said the experience of watching the documentary footage was "eerie".
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She added: "I thought it was going to be me looking slumped over and unable to move but actually to anyone who didn’t know me, I look like I’m behaving quite normally and am in a position to consent and advocate for myself.
"I thought that if I saw that girl on a night out in that state I wouldn’t necessarily think there is something wrong with her or that she needed help.
"But I know in that moment mentally I was really, really going through it."
The KISS FM show host went on to interview victims of spiking who have not seen their perpetrators brought to justice, shedding even more light on how much more legal support is needed in this area.