A Global Issue

I received an e-mail from Dean Sunshine in Australia giving information about his company Drink Safe Technologies.

He attached a couple of articles about his company which were very informative. I urge everyone to read them if you can.

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The Australian 3rd oct 2005.JPG (image/jpeg), 986 K

An article in The Australian on October 3rd 2005 details that Mr Sunshine set up the company as his drink was spiked as a prank but understandably "didn't find it very funny". It writes that: "10 years on drink spiking is now a serious and growing problem across Australia, with 4500 people falling victim to the practice each year, of which 40 per cent are then sexually assaulted, according to a recent Australian Institute of Criminology."

Mr Sunshine developed the Drink Safe Coaster, a hi-tech card in the shape of a coaster that can detect the presence of drugs in drinks. Users splash a bit of their drink on the card and it changes colour if notorious date-rape drugs are found, such as GHB and Ketamine.

"My mission is to stop these crimes before they happen," Mr Sunshine said.

The coasters are stocked in pharmacies, 100 nightclubs, pubs and bars across the country. But quite rightfully Mr Sunshine believes that there is a long way to go in addressing drink spiking.

"Everyone knows about it, but people still don't think that it will happen to them."

The article in The Telegraph on October 3rd 2003 shows the influence of the coasters in the University of Wollongong. Between the months of January and March, before the coasters were available, there were 18 reported cases of drink spiking, of which nine were supported by medical testing. However six months on and with the coasters available to students, there have been no reported cases of drink spiking since.

The University of Wollongong Student Representative Council President Michael Szafraniec said 3000 kits had been distributed in the past six months and a handful of drinks had tested positive which illustrates the prevention.

In my eyes, if the coasters stop one person from being drugged and raped as a result then it is a success and it is doing so. Mr Sunshine's product is being heralded as a break-through in the fight against drink spiking and they are not wrong. In a society where there is a lot of talk, Mr Sunshine is definately walking the walk.