One in 13 college students report having been drugged without their knowledge or consent. Drugging, which often happens through drink spiking, can cause dangerous health effects and be used to facilitate crimes like sexual assault or robbery, but it’s hard for students to know in the moment when their drink has been spiked.
Danya Sherman (MBA ’21) is working to change that.
“If you were to send your beverage away for a toxicology report, it could take anywhere from a week to two weeks and more,” Sherman said. “But what if I could tell you, in your hand, I can give you a resource that can test a beverage for 12 drugs commonly associated with exploitation around college campuses in as little as one minute?”
Sherman created the Knope Test, a product that does just that.
Much like a COVID test, a user puts a few drops of liquid on the Knope Test to get results. The test can detect 12 drugs in the benzodiazepine and ketamine classes. These so-called “date rape” drugs are sometimes used to spike drinks and perpetuate sexual assault by weakening or disorienting anyone who ingests them.
Sherman founded KnoNap in 2017. Along with the Knope Test, KnoNap sells Knope Drink Covers, which fit over the top of Solo Cups and other similarly-sized containers. The drink covers keep drinks sealed so that other substances can’t be slipped in, and they can be used either with a straw or like a sippy cup.
Now, Sherman is bringing KnoNap to Georgetown in a collaboration with H*yas for Choice (HFC) and the Gender Violence Alliance (GVA), two groups that have advocated for dating violence prevention on campus.
HFC and GVA are planning to bring Sherman to campus for an event and workshop in November to talk about precautions students can take to protect against drink spiking. Students will also be able to take some free KnoNap products.
“We’re hoping to bring awareness to the topic, because drink spiking occurs really a lot, very frequently on college campuses, I think more than it’s actually talked about,” Kat Scarborough (CAS ’26), co-president of HFC, said.
This lack of awareness Scarborough referred to was what inspired Sherman to found KnoNap. By holding workshops at colleges like Georgetown, Sherman works directly with students to inform them on how to keep themselves and others safe while drinking.
“The whole premise of what we do and the ‘why’ behind it is you can’t empower yourself against an issue that you’re not familiar with,” Sherman said. “What we’re doing at the core is democratizing health information.”
Both Scarborough and Sherman said that many students don’t learn about drink spiking until they’ve been personally affected by it. They encouraged students to be proactive in learning about the issue and how to protect themselves and others from it.
Scarborough hopes that the collaboration between KnoNap, HFC, and GVA will arm Georgetown students with important resources and awareness.
“There are really good resources on campus in case something does happen,” Scarborough said. “But I think just educating beforehand too can really help with safe practices.”
Sherman added that many college students have misconceptions about drink spiking.
“Misconceptions that are most common I hear are, ‘This only affects women.’ No. ‘Drink spiking only happens in alcoholic beverages.’ No, anything can be drugged, even going down to water or ice,” Sherman said.
While twice as many women report having been drugged as men, Sherman emphasized that this is an issue that can affect anyone.
She also added that some students believe they can tell if a drink is spiked based on how it tastes or if the ice is sinking, but these are not accurate indicators.
“If someone’s looking at their drink, trying to see if their ice is floating or not, this is not necessarily an indication of whether or not a drink has been tampered. What would be an indication is being able to use a resource like the Knope Test,” Sherman said
For when the Knope Test does indicate drug presence, KnoNap created its “What Now?” campaign, which provides resources and step-by-step guidance for users to stay safe and get help.
“We actually partnered with law enforcement professionals to be able to answer that element of the next steps,” Sherman said. “Our campaign talks through what to do following having you suspect you’ve been drugged, you’re being harassed, you’ve been assaulted, your Knope tool indicates drug presence, or your Knope tool indicates no drug presence.”
Sherman hopes that her work and KnoNap events at college campuses like Georgetown will help reduce the prevalence of drink spiking and keep students safe.
“The more I’ve done this work, it’s absolutely insane how prevalent the issue of drink spiking and drug-facilitated crime is,” Sherman said. “It’s absolutely disgusting, and that also raises the level of a desire for heightened awareness and advocacy.”
