Headlining BBC Scotland today, the above and:

At the hospital, blood tests revealed she had been injected with gamma-hydroxybutyrate, better known as GHB, as well as an anti-depressant drug.

GHB is a powerful sedative that causes extreme sleepiness and loss of inhibitions – and it erases the memory of what has happened under its influence.

It is notorious as a date rape drug.

Whilst the GHB would eventually work its way out of her system, doctors were worried about the potential for blood infections from the needle.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyv0zjg2623o

The blood test is key and may suggest a shocking development because spiking by needle has long been considered improbable by experts.

Reports of people being spiked by needles in nightclubs seem to have first emerged in Nottingham nearly five years ago, where police are investigating 12 cases. Reports have now spread across the country including 4 cases in Glasgow,

A predictable moral guardian had already emerged with the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, ordering police to clamp down on ‘syringe spiking” and urgently assess the scale of the problem.

Only, as far as I can see, the Herald, reported skeptical expert opinion:

Experts have said that a sudden spate of women being spiked by injection is “far-fetched” and “deeply improbable” due to the difficulties involved with using a syringe on someone against their will. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19664972.spiking-injection-experts-say-scenario-far-fetched/

I spoke to a local health board scientist in October 2021 and they felt that it would be a very difficult act to carry out.

Then in December 2022:

Police Scotland have found no evidence to back up a surge in claims of spiking by injection. Almost 150 people came forward over 12 months saying they could have been drugged by needles in nightclubs. Complaints soared after media coverage in October last year, with almost 60 made in the first week of November.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63900351

The blood test may change everything.

Though improbable with a regular needle and doubted by experts in 2021, might this have been done with something comparable to the ‘pens’ used for diabetes or extreme allergies?

Devices comparable to insulin pens or EpiPen-style auto-injectors could theoretically make surreptitious injection somewhat more feasible than a traditional syringe/needle, though it would still be challenging and remains largely speculative without confirmed evidence in this or similar cases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injector_pen