Making detection visible. Making safety normal.

The reality we must confront

Across the world, millions gather every day in environments built around trust and social connection — universities, bars, festivals, hotels, workplaces, and public events. Yet within these spaces a hidden threat persists. Drink spiking and drug-facilitated assault remain among the most insidious forms of social violence: covert, opportunistic, and deeply traumatic, disproportionately affecting women and young people. Most people have no way to know instantly whether their drink or surroundings have been contaminated. Without detection, these crimes remain difficult to prove and easy to commit. This is the gap DrugLab118 exists to close.

Our belief

When detection becomes visible, behaviour changes. Breathalysers changed attitudes toward drink driving. CCTV reduced opportunistic crime. Security screening transformed aviation safety. In each case the same principle applied: when the risk of detection becomes real, crime declines. Drink spiking remains one of the few social crimes where no visible detection infrastructure exists. We are committed to changing that.

Our mission

To ensure that instant drug detection becomes normal, visible, and accessible in every social environment where people gather. Testing should not be hidden or rare — it should be visible, normalised, widely available, and socially accepted. When testing becomes part of everyday behaviour, perpetrators can no longer assume their actions will go undetected.

A holistic approach

Creating safer social environments requires more than technology. It requires a coordinated approach combining detection (accessible tools to identify contamination instantly), education (programmes that empower people to understand risk and intervene), visibility (public testing that signals tampering will not go unnoticed), and partnership (collaboration between universities, cities, venues, advocacy organisations, and public-safety institutions).

Our call to institutions and leaders

The challenge of drink spiking cannot be solved by individuals alone. It requires leadership from the institutions that shape the environments in which people gather. We call on universities, hospitality venues, event organisers, tourism authorities, city governments, public-health organisations, and advocacy groups to join us in normalising instant drug detection — and together establish new standards for social safety.

The future we seek

A world where anyone can instantly test a drink, surface, or suspicious substance. A world where visible testing is as common as checking identification at a bar or scanning luggage at an airport. A world where perpetrators know that tampering with a drink is no longer a low-risk crime — and where social spaces are defined by trust, accountability, and shared responsibility for safety.

Making detection visible. Making safety normal. Creating a safer social society, with safer social spaces everywhere.

— Colin Lyon, for DrugLab118