Tempe City Council and nonprofits combat drink spiking

As Tempe expands efforts to prevent drink spiking, officials are working with ASU and other partners in the community to address the issue.

Councilmember Randy Keating chairs the city’s new Drink Spiking Education and Prevention Council Subcommittee with support from Councilmember Berdetta Hodge and Vice Mayor Doreen Garlid. The subcommittee intends to bring awareness to drink spiking and find solutions that improve the safety of Tempe’s nightlife.

The city has a responsibility to be proactive when it comes to protecting people, Keating said in a written statement. The drink safety effort also hopes to draw more visitors to bars and restaurants.

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Keating referenced a 2024 study from Anglia Ruskin University and the organization Drinkaware, which found that 90% of drink spiking incidents go unreported, as a justification for the subcommittee’s goals.

As the subcommittee works to propose an ordinance that would achieve its policy goals, officials said the city government has been discussing the feasibility of solutions with the Tempe Police Department.

Tempe struggles to enforce existing laws due to the nature of drink spiking as a crime, City Attorney Eric Anderson said at the subcommittee’s meeting on Sept. 26.

Anderson also said the subcommittee is focused less on creating new laws than on improving the enforcement of existing ones.

During the meeting, the subcommittee discussed ideas to have drink covers, testing kits and signage about drink spiking at establishments serving alcohol. Keating said the testing kits are particularly helpful for Tempe PD.

“They see testing kits as valuable tools for investigations—helping gather evidence, make arrests, and support victims,” Keating wrote.

The city has sparked conversations with community stakeholders, including businesses, advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations, student leaders and Greek life representatives at the University, Keating said in the email.

“Safety in Tempe isn’t just talk—it’s action,” Keating said.

KnoMore, a national nonprofit focused on preventing and detecting drink spiking incidents, is working with the subcommittee to help provide resources, said Danya Sherman, the organization’s executive director.

KnoMore works to dismantle stigma surrounding nightlife safety, offering support for victims and pushing for policy reform, Sherman said.

“Our focus is around supporting conscious, consensual consumption,” Sherman said.

KnoMore has worked with student groups across the country to provide resources relating to drink spiking prevention. These include educational resources to support curricula, workshops and relationships with student governments and Greek life communities.

“Each campus is so different, each city is so different, each state is so different,” Sherman said. “Our focus is around being able to support different communities.”

Planned Parenthood Generation Action at ASU, an organization that raises awareness and advocates for reproductive freedom and justice, plans to work with KnoMore to get these resources for University students.

PPGEN President Marlee Valenzuela, a senior studying political science, said the club’s mission aligns with stop drink spiking.

“By being able to decide what is in my drink, that I am about to drink, that is me having autonomy over my own body,” Valenzuela said.

PPGEN plans to distribute drink covers and testing kits during an upcoming tabling event to further the organization’s drink spiking prevention goals.

“(It is about) letting people have fun and end the night in the way that they plan,” Valenzuela said.

Edited by Carsten Oyer, Senna James, Sophia Braccio and Ellis Preston. 

Reach the reporters at emalvar9@asu.edu and dbell39@asu.edu and follow @Emilioalva17 and @dhemibell on X. 

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