TL;DR: The UK’s Crime and Policing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and creates the country’s first standalone spiking offence. Section 134 — “Administering etc harmful substances (including by spiking)” — covers putting a harmful substance into someone’s drink or food, or administering it by needle, with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy. Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison on indictment. One crucial caveat: as of July 2026, Section 134 is not yet in force — the first commencement regulations (29 June 2026) activated other parts of the Act, but not this one. And new Devon & Cornwall police data show why prosecution remains hard even with a clean statute: only 17 of 198 tests (5.4%) confirmed a spiking last year.
A Standalone Spiking Offence — At Last
Until now, spiking prosecutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have leaned on Victorian-era law — chiefly sections 23 and 24 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, written long before nightclub culture, GHB or needle spiking existed. Victims’ groups, local authorities and the licensed trade have campaigned for years for a modern offence that names the behaviour for what it is.
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 delivers that. The Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, and its Section 134 carries a heading that leaves no room for interpretation: “Administering etc harmful substances (including by spiking).” The Ministry of Justice has said the explicit naming is deliberate — it is meant to raise public awareness that spiking is a serious crime and to encourage victims to report it.
What Section 134 Actually Says
Under Section 134, a person commits an offence if they unlawfully administer a harmful substance to another person — or cause it to be administered to or taken by them — with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy that person. “Harmful substance” is defined broadly as any poison or other destructive or noxious thing.
Three things stand out:
- It covers every method. Drink spiking, food spiking, needle spiking, vape spiking — the offence is about the substance and the intent, not the delivery route.
- The intent threshold is low. “Injure, aggrieve or annoy” captures so-called prank spiking, not just spiking as a precursor to assault or robbery. Prosecutors do not need to prove an ulterior motive.
- The penalty is substantial. On conviction on indictment: imprisonment for up to 10 years, a fine, or both. Summary conviction carries lower limits.
Conduct that goes further — spiking followed by sexual assault, serious injury or theft — remains chargeable under the more serious existing offences alongside or instead of Section 134.
Not Yet in Force: The Commencement Gap
Here is the detail most coverage skips: Royal Assent does not mean the offence is enforceable. Like most UK legislation, the Act’s provisions come into force in stages via commencement regulations.
The first set — the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/689) — brought a range of provisions into force on 29 June 2026, covering anti-social behaviour, firearms, protest offences and police powers. Section 134 was not among them. On legislation.gov.uk, the section is still marked as prospective: “not in force at Royal Assent.”
Until further commencement regulations activate Section 134, police and the CPS will keep charging spiking under the 1861 Act and related offences. For anyone reading headlines that “spiking is now illegal”: it always was — what changes is how clearly, and how severely, the law names it. The switch has been built; it has not yet been flipped.
The Evidence Problem: Devon & Cornwall’s Numbers
A modern statute solves the naming problem. It does not solve the evidence problem — and fresh figures from the South West show how large that problem is.
According to the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, 311 spiking incidents were reported in the force area between April 2025 and March 2026, up from 292 the year before. Of those, 198 tests were conducted — and just 17 (5.4%) confirmed a spiking, slightly below the roughly 6% national average. The charity Stamp Out Spiking, which reports a 20% rise in reporting, believes the true incident numbers are considerably higher because most victims never come forward.
A 5.4% confirmation rate does not mean 94.6% of reports were false. It largely reflects biology and timing: GHB, the classic spiking substance, typically leaves the body within 8 to 24 hours. A victim who wakes up disoriented and reports the next afternoon may already be outside the detection window. By the time a forensic sample is taken, the evidence is gone — which is precisely why testing the drink itself, in the moment, is the one point in the chain where evidence is still fresh.
In response, the Commissioner is funding prevention and response training for door staff, bar teams and student-union representatives at the University of Exeter and Falmouth University and for night-time economy workers in Newquay, plus an additional £10,000 for Stamp Out Spiking’s work across the South West.
What the Act Does Not Do
Section 134 is a criminal-law measure, full stop. The Act contains no venue mandate: UK bars, pubs and clubs are not required to stock drink-testing kits, post signage or offer testing to guests. That contrasts with California’s AB 1013 (in force since July 2024, requiring certain licensed bars to make test kits available) and Tempe, Arizona’s ordinance (obligations from 1 August 2026). In the UK, whether a venue offers testing remains a voluntary duty-of-care decision — and an increasingly visible differentiator for safety-conscious operators. Venues exploring that route can look at bulk options for staff and guest testing.
How to Protect Yourself Now
Whatever the commencement timetable, the practical advice does not change:
- Keep your drink in sight and be cautious with drinks you did not see poured.
- Know the warning signs — sudden dizziness, confusion or drowsiness out of proportion to what you drank. Our guide to the five warning signs your drink may have been spiked covers what to watch for.
- Test when in doubt. Rapid strips like DrinkCheck screen a few drops of a drink in about 15 seconds for six substances — GHB, ketamine, scopolamine, cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. The chemistry is validated by three independent laboratories.
- Act fast if you suspect spiking. Seek medical help immediately and push for a forensic sample — the detection window is short. Our step-by-step plan if you think you’ve been drugged walks through the first 24 hours.
- Report it — even if a test comes back negative. Reporting data is exactly what drove this law onto the statute book.
For the substances most often involved, see our explainer on GHB, ketamine and scopolamine.
Sources
- Crime and Policing Act 2026 — legislation.gov.uk
- Section 134: Administering etc harmful substances (including by spiking) — legislation.gov.uk
- Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/689 — legislation.gov.uk
- Crime and Policing Act 2026 collection — GOV.UK
- Commissioner funds focused spiking prevention training — Devon & Cornwall PCC
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. If you suspect you or someone else has been spiked, seek medical attention immediately. In an emergency in the UK, call 999.
Last updated: July 10, 2026. Section 134 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 was not yet in force at the time of writing; commencement status may change. Consult official sources for current information.
