A week after three Alfie’s patrons were brought to hospital, officials say there’s no evidence the students were drugged.

On Feb. 8, three students were brought to hospital after leaving Alfie’s at approximately 1 a.m. According to Campus Security they exhibited signs of “intoxication that appeared in excess of their actual consumption.” One of the students had reported to Campus Security officers that she couldn’t move her legs.

The following day, Campus Security released a statement that suggested the students’ drinks could have been tampered with.

Joel Keenleyside, Campus Security’s operations co-ordinator, said there’s no indication that the students were drugged. He added that no one has been implicated in the incident.

“Other than the initial follow-up done the following day, there have been no further discussions with [the AMS Pub Services] on this incident,” Keenleyside told the Journal via email. “There is still no clear indication that anyone was in fact ‘drugged.’”

Constable Steven Koopman, media relations officer for Kingston Police, said that to his knowledge none of the three women had contacted the police.

“We hadn’t even gone to the scene and we don’t have an active and ongoing investigation,” Koopman said.

Gracie Goad, AMS hospitality and safety services director, said TAPS staff and Student Constables haven’t deviated from normal procedure following the incident.

“Both TAPS and [Student Constables] staff are required to obtain SmartServe certification prior to working their first shift,” Goad told the Journal via email.

“Both services hold training in September which addresses safe consumption of alcohol and their responsibilities as staff in providing adequate duty of care to patrons.”

Donna Joyce is manager of the sexual assault domestic violence program, run out of local hospitals including Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu. She couldn’t comment on whether the three women were seen by the program last week.

She said 58 people in the region — this includes Kingston, Lennox, Frontenac and Addington — came to the program after being sexually assaulted. Twenty seven of them reported feeling like they had been drugged in some manner.

“It’s prevalent provincially and it’s such a pervasive issue,” Joyce said. The majority of victims that come forward in both instances are women between the ages of 16 and 24.

Joyce said there are misconceptions when it comes to drug-induced sexual assault.

“People tend to typically think of Rohypnol,” she said.

Rohypnol is a sedative. Joyce said though that most drugs implicated in sexual assaults are made from things found in a regular medicine cabinet.

“It’s [usually] a concoction of other things,” she said.

Recently, the unit changed their mandate to aid sexual assault victims up to one week after an incident. Previously, there was a 72-hour deadline.

Regardless, Joyce said it’s important for victims to come forward as soon as possible “The reality is, they’re victims of a crime,” she said, adding that bystanders have a role to play in prevention.

“We need to continue to educate as much as we can, we also need to educate the general public to be a little bit more aware of their surroundings and of their colleagues and their friends,” she said.

— With files from Catherine Owsik