I was drugged at Grog twice this semester
‘I just swallowed something’
On Friday night UF junior, Robert* went to Grog with a group of eight fraternity brothers to celebrate his friend’s birthday. A normal Friday night started with beer and laughter quickly ended when Robert was drugged by a stranger – his second experience being drugged at the Grog this semester.
Robert says he is used to being hit on by guys when they go out to Midtown and wasn’t surprised when a kind stranger offered to buy him a drink. After getting a pitcher to share and partaking in some small talk Robert’s night shifted.
When he got to the end of his beer Robert felt his throat swallow something powdery. He knew at that moment he had swallowed a pill. He turned to his friend Joe* on his right and claimed: “I just swallowed something.” When Robert looked to his left to confront the stranger he had vanished. Looking back on the evening Robert assumes the stranger dropped a pill in his beer when he wasn’t paying attention.
At the time he didn’t think too much of the pill, he continued his evening as normal until approximately 30 minutes later his night blurred and faded black.
Robert woke Saturday morning without knowledge of how he ended up safe at home. His friends recapped the night before and claimed he threw up, couldn’t keep any food down, and was difficult to maintain. Joe, whose birthday they were celebrating said Robert “jumping on someone’s back and running away from us. He just seemed drunk.”
Another friend, Connor, ended up finding Robert at the swamp bar and decided he needed to be driven home: “He was stumbling, slurring his words, and had extremely dilated pupils. Like, his eyes were huge. He would repeat things he’d said and forget I had said something moments after I said it.”
The side affects from the drugs continued throughout the weekend. Robert faced physical change in his eyes where pools of blood began to form and hallucinations came into play. “I must have had four or five drinks but I was hallucinating the next morning. I thought my parents were in the room with me.
“I have been drugged before, but this was the worst it’s been.”
Blood filling in his eye
“I had work the next morning but I had told them what occurred the night before. They sent me home and warned me not to go back there and I won’t.”
On Sunday Robert went to the infirmary where they confirmed he had traces of drugs in his system. However, they were unable to classify which drug was slipped into his drink since the event occurred two days prior. Today, when Robert told his story to The Tab, he was still suffering from the drugs in his system – forgetting questions and his eyes were still blood shot.
People often give advice about parties – cover your drink, don’t accept one from strangers – but you don’t necessarily think of it until it’s happening to you. Robert warns “if you think you swallow something or have been drugged, immediately go throw up.”
“I’m annoyed because I’m a big guy, I’m 6’1 and 180 lbs, I can take care of myself. But imagine this was a girl and she’s walking home alone and gets raped. I’m glad it happened to me. It makes me mad that this could happen to a girl.”