JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A St. Augustine woman has used her experience to create change for local college students. After Madison Brantley said she was drugged at party, she invented a tool to protect every local student.
It was Brantley’s freshman year at the University of North Florida. She planned to go to a college party in Jacksonville with friends, and agreed to be the designated driver. Although she was only drinking water, Brantley said it was drugged. She woke up on the side of the road around 4 a.m. near a random house in Jacksonville.
“I think it really opened my eyes that there’s a lot of people who are just freshmen just trying to go have fun, trying to find new friends, trying to figure out who they want to be in college,” Brantley said. “Something like this can set them back.”
Brantley created the “Drink Smart Cards” as a tool for students. It allows anyone to test their drink on this small card and immediately get results. It tests for two most common date rape drugs, GHB and ketamine.
Action News Jax first reported on these cards when Brantley launched it in 2018 at UNF. Since then, she said the demand has doubled on campus. Initially, the student government distributed 2,500 cards. Now, it’s more than 5,000 cards.
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“These are all over UNF now,” Brantley said. “Since our initial distribution when we first got them, it was just student government, the student center, and LGBTQ + center. Now more people on campus want them.”
The university has agreed to continue to purchase and distribute these cards on campus. Brantley said it’s run through student government. The campus also has a “What’s in Your Drink” panel discussion planned for April.
Brantley has since graduated UNF, but she doesn’t hope to be gone for long. She said she has applied to UNF’s clinical mental health counseling program, to special in trauma-based counseling for survivors of sexual assault.
UNF offers more safety resources to student on campus. Find it here.
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