Date-rape drug-testing kits distributed in bars around Barnet do more to scaremonger than raise awareness and could even spark off brawls, a police expert warned this week.
Barnet police handed out drug-testing kits in three pubs last month but Sergeant Nigel Dermott, the head of Essex police's fight against drink spiking, believes the tests are not a reliable guide to the presence of drugs.
The drugs become undetectable when mixed in wine, neat spirits, and citrus and milk-based beverages, although they do work with beer or diluted spirits such as gin and tonic, Sgt Dermott claimed.
"I would need to be convinced by the Forensic Science Laboratory before I would touch it with a barge pole," said Sgt Dermott.
Essex police undertook an experiment in a club with a similar kit to the one promoted by Barnet police. Out of 197 drinks, 11 tested positive with the self-test kit, but when the samples were analysed in a laboratory, none were found to contain drugs. The kit tests for benzodiazepines tranquillisers that produce a sedative effect, such as Rohypnol and cannot detect GHB and ketamine, two commonly used date rape drugs.
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