Australians worried that their drinks have been spiked in clubs and pubs are now able to use a special litmus test which detects the presence of so-called date rape drugs.
Until yesterday the testing kit, which is about the size of a credit card, was available inAustralia only through the internet.
It is now being imported from the United States by Melbourne-based Drink Safe Technologies and sold in pharmacies and other outlets.
It consists of a small card which can detect drugs such as GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] and ketamine, both linked to date rape. If the drugs are present in a drink, the card turns darker.
The product, which contains six tests and will sell for A$14 ($16), should be available in New Zealand in the next few weeks.
Dean Sunshine, director of Drink Safe Technologies, said the test was the only one of its kind in the world and it could potentially prevent people being sexually assaulted as a result of their drinks being spiked.
"Drink spiking is an unreported crime. Even if you are not sexually assaulted, the associated memory loss can be deeply traumatic," he said.
The launch of the test was cautiously welcomed by drug safety campaigners.
Paul Dillon, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said: "This is a great little preventative tool, but drink spiking doesn't occur as often as people are led to believe.
"There's no hard data, not just in Australia but around the world. A lot of the time it turns out that people have drunk a lot more than they thought they had."
Dillon said drink spikers were likely to strike in the home, rather than in pubs, parties or nightclubs, where the risk of being caught was much greater.
"Its all about power. They render someone unconscious and then take photos of them or have sex with them. Fortunately there are not many people like that in the world," he said.
It was more common for people to have their drinks spiked with extra alcohol, rather than drugs.
"People will buy their mates a triple instead of a single shot to loosen them up or get them in the party mood."
