Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers expanding spiked drink campaign<\/p>\n
Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2026<\/p>\n
Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers is expanding its campaign to address spiked drinks, that started last year after the Nanaimo RCMP received several reports of drinks being tampered with in local nightclubs.<\/p>\n
In late March, representatives from the local Crime Stoppers travelled to the Shawnigan Lake RCMP detachment to share resources and discuss prevention strategies. The campaign is designed to educate patrons, bar staff, and the broader community to recognize the signs of drink tampering and understanding the risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption, offering materials to nightclubs and licensed establishments. The material includes posters and beer coasters with clear messaging and practical tips that encourage the public to report suspicious activity.<\/p>\n
Reserve Const. Gary O\u2019Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman and Crime Stoppers coordinator, told the News Bulletin that practical tips include never leaving a drink unattended and never accepting a drink from a stranger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think your drink has been spiked, do not isolate yourself, stay with your friends, identify who your wing-man or wing-person is for the evening and seek medical attention,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt could be a life-threatening situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien said the campaign also focuses on over-consumption of alcohol and drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially [Shawnigan Lake] members and their officer in charge said, \u2018We don\u2019t have an issue with spiked drinks,\u2019 but I said, \u2018It\u2019s not neccasarily spiked drinks we\u2019re most concerned about, it\u2019s the kids who are fresh out of high school, coming into your town, or young adults 18-22 demographic who are over-drinking, and recreationally they spot a joint or do a line of coke before going into the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not being aware of their body\u2019s own limits, O\u2019Brien said they can find themselves in a situation where they believe their drink has been spiked, when, in reality, the drugs and alcohol are mixing in their system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re going out for an evening, if you think you\u2019re going to be drinking alcohol, be smart. Don\u2019t put yourself in a situation that is very hard to get out of.\u201d<\/p>\n
To find out more about Crime Stoppers or this initiative, O\u2019Brien asked people to e-mail president@cvicrimestoppers.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Vancouver Island Crime Stoppers expanding spiked drink campaign Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2026 Central Vancouver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-590209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}