Maximise gave away a whole lot of its recently-launched tester strips to new college students attending the York St John College Freshers Truthful.

Round 3,000 college students are believed to have attended the occasion, which happened final Wednesday.

Director of Maximise, Andy Hudson, says the demand for the corporate’s drink spike indicator tester strips exceeded even his personal expectations.

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He stated: “We’d given out all our free samples inside hours of being there. Younger individuals are critically conscious of the chance of drink spiking. The issue for a lot of of them is that they don’t have a method of figuring out in the event that they’re in danger or not. That’s why our drink tester strips had been so widespread – they provide you an instantaneous indication of whether or not or not your drink’s been spiked”. 

Maximise’s drink tester strips are capable of detect two of essentially the most broadly used drink-spiking medication, Ketamine and GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate) – also referred to as ‘date rape medication’ attributable to their propensity for reducing folks’s inhibitions and inducing a state of short-term amnesia.

Developed together with the College of Strathclyde and the Scientific Trials Laboratory Providers, the tester strips are fast and simple to make use of. Just some drops of the drink suspected of being spiked will produce a end in a matter of seconds, indicating the presence of GHB, Ketamine or each.

Most date rape medication take impact inside 15-Half-hour and signs often final for a number of hours. Customers are suggested to check their drinks as quickly as they really feel any sick results and to tell a good friend or member of workers instantly, in order that they’re not left in any hazard.

Official statistics on drink spiking should not routinely revealed, however final 12 months the Nationwide Police Chiefs’ Council reported almost 5,000 instances of needle and drink spiking incidents throughout England and Wales within the 12 months to September 2022.

Nonetheless, final 12 months the Alcohol Schooling Belief (AET), reported its survey of 747 folks exhibiting that 94 (12.6%) had been spiked, with a prevalence of 15% amongst females and seven% amongst males.

Earlier this 12 months, the Labour chief Kier Starmer known as for drink spiking to be made a selected offence and spoke out about his fears for when his personal daughter is sufficiently old to exit.

Andy Hudson, who cofounded Maximise in 2016, admits to having had related fears when his daughter was at college – and says it’s one of many fundamental causes for selecting to provide drink spike indicator testers strips.

He added: “On a number of events, she got here residence with tales about associates whose drinks had been spiked on nights out and it completely terrified me. Till then, Maximise had centered on supplying tester strips to the scent and aroma industries, but it surely struck me that we might use our experience to broaden our providing to incorporate drink spike testers, and play our half in serving to struggle this terrible development.”

The tester strips could be purchased at www.testerstrips.co.uk