About Christine

She had a moderate amount to drink at a work happy hour, which started at 5 pm. She had four glasses of wine to drink (5-6 ounces each) over 3.5 hours, and around 8:30 pm, she was handed her first cocktail of the night. Around 9 pm, her memory went completely blank. She woke up at 3 am hooked up to an IV in a hospital bed, with nothing but her driver’s license.  The next day, she experienced confusion and physical illness disproportionate to a normal hangover – and Christine is a social drinker with a high alcohol tolerance. A co-worker she messaged reassured her she hadn’t done anything inappropriate, stating that her behavior “was funny, so [she shouldn’t] sweat it.”

More than three days after the work event, Christine was accused of sexually harassing a male colleague that night.  The company investigated and verbally told her they found no sexual harassment had occurred.  She had no prior complaints nor any performance issues at her workplace, but two weeks after she voluntarily reported the incident to her manager, the company fired her, citing a violation of the substance use policy (although she had consumed no more alcohol than others at the same event). By the time she suspected she had been drugged - more than three days after the work event – it was too late to test for date-rape drugs, which would have been flushed out of her system by that point. To this day, she still can’t say for certain if she was drugged, because it is not hospital protocol to test unless there is sexual assault or unless the patient explicitly asks for it. As a result of this one night, her professional reputation and career as a corporate leader - which she had built over 20 years as a respected attorney and in-house legal counsel – was pulled out from under her.

When Christine shared her story with friends and family, she was stunned by the number of people who had similar stories. She discovered that drink spiking appears to be a common occurrence in the workplace, yet hard data isn’t being tracked and few people are talking about this crime that so easily escapes prosecution, including legislators who could initiate statutory protections to help victims retain agency over their bodies and their lives.  She is launching this initiative to raise awareness and identify the few legislators that are fighting for change on this issue, as well as invite in stories from other people who have been through similar experiences.  Christine’s hope is that with more attention and dialogue, we may be able to change policy and culture around how we treat these situations legally and in the workplace, in nightlife, and on college campuses.