January 31, 2024 3:30 a.m.

The Douglas County Human Trafficking Task Force has a new program called sip safe.

Executive Director Marion Pearson said it was designed to address predatory drink spiking. Pearson said it was started because of an increasing amount of stories regarding the issue, and to provide establishments help to have the tools to address it.

Pearson said victims rarely report being spiked to law enforcement, largely due to guilt and shame as well as uncertainty of what actually happened. She said spiking drugs usually wipe out the memory of what happened, so victims are often confused.

The task force wrote a request for a Chip grant from Umpqua Health Alliance to provide tools and training for a total of 16 pilot bars – 9 in phase one and 7 more in phase two. Pearson said phase one was rolled out just before the end of last year.

Pearson said that so far, participating bars and their patrons love it, and are very interested. Bars in this phase are in the communities of Oakland, Sutherlin, Idleyld Park, Roseburg, Winston and Riddle. Establishments in Yoncalla, Oakland, and Myrtle Creek will be added in phase two.

More information about the program and the Douglas County Human Trafficking Task Force are at: http://up2usnow.org/

Marion Pearson will talk about the program on Inside Douglas County Friday at 12:30 p.m. on News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN.