MISSOULA — One spiked drink is all it takes to turn a night out on the town into a disaster.
With Disco Bloodbath, one of Missoula’s biggest events of the year right around the corner, organizers are striving to make the event as safe as possible.
Ultimately, they hope to spark change throughout Missoula’s nightlife scene.
This year, Disco Bloodbath will be held in the old Sears building inside the Southgate Mall and with a much larger venue, crowds are expected to reach anywhere from 2,000-to-5,000 people.
A local safety task force will offer free SipChips throughout the night to each and every person at the event.
SipChip is the coin-sized drug test that helps you drink more safely. Each chip is about the size of a quarter. They’re portable, discreet, and they have a 99.3% accuracy rate.
Online, each sip chip costs about $4, but Disco Bloodbath with be handing these out for free tomorrow night. Safety Task Force Holly Fry member explained to us how the test works.
“You take a drop of your drink and you drop it in the reservoir. If two lines pop up it’s good because that means the drug has not bonded with the chemicals in the paper, and one line means it’s been tampered with. It even says right on the chip ‘good or bad.’ You cannot mistake the results.”
The venue safety task force hopes that by implementing SipChip, they’ll inspire other nightlife venues around town to do the same, and begin taking steps towards building a safer community.
