A 19-year-old writer from Cardiff has spoken out after being the victim of drink spiking while travelling in Europe, saying that being described as “lucky” for escaping relatively unharmed ignores the truth of what happened.
Edith Pritchard was on an interrailing trip across Europe when she was targeted in a pub in Prague. Despite taking precautions – watching her drinks closely and planning her route home before making evening plans – she was overcome by overwhelming exhaustion and had to be rushed back to where she was staying. Her symptoms worsened, leading to sickness-bug-like manifestations, and she eventually passed out in her bed surrounded by 11 strangers. She had been spiked.
Safety as second nature
Pritchard said that for most young girls planning a trip, female safety is a defining factor in every aspect of the holiday. From accommodation to packing lists, the goal of keeping young ladies safe is second nature. She noted that pocket alarms are carried as habitually as house keys, having location services on is a necessity, and not being out alone at night is a rule drilled into young women from an early age.
She said danger is often assumed to lie in clubs and bars, but her “lucky” escape took place within the familiar surroundings of a pub. She still does not know who the culprit was.
‘Luck is not enough’
Pritchard said people told her she was lucky because she escaped with no physical harm, no lasting effects, and remained overall mentally unshaken. But she argued that framing escapes like this as luck excuses the crime, implying harm was inevitable and treating safety as a matter of chance.
She said luck is going out at night and not leaving early due to poisoning, luck is having her health completely in her control, and luck is not being unwell after a casual night with friends. “This so-called ‘luck’ is not enough,” she wrote.
She called for a duty to do better – to look out for each other, to report anything suspicious immediately, and to leave and seek help the moment something feels off or symptoms appear. She concluded that awareness, mutual care, and refusing to accept “getting away with it” as adequate protection is what should replace luck.
