Sticker campaign will warn students of drug rape risk

Unattended drinks in student bars will be labelled as part of a campaign to raise awareness about drug rape in colleges nationwide.

The initiative, organised by the Union of Students in Ireland, will involved placing stickers on glasses with the question: "Could this drink have been spiked?". The tactic is be used at college social events to show how easily tampering can occur.

The Department of Justice has already issued posters highlighting the problem.

According to USI, there were 130 cases of reported drug rape in Ireland during 2001, double the figure in the previous year.

The campaign will also highlight awareness of the signs that someone's drink has been spiked, including nausea, loss of control of limbs and a level of drunkenness unrelated to the amount of alcohol consumed.

The USI's welfare officer, Ms Maureen Woods, said the Internet had introduced a "new menace" by providing recipes for the manufacture of so-called date-rape drugs. The union also warned that the problem was not confined to pubs and clubs, but extended to cafés and house parties too.

While most targets for drug rape are women, the USI campaign will also be aimed at men, who should also be "alert to the the threat," according to the union's women's rights officer, Ms June Coghlan. "Our aim is not to scare or alarm, but to raise a greater awareness," she added.