Home Drink & Drugs
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Ketamine to be a controlled substance...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
"The government is proposing tougher controls on a horse tranquilliser, amid growing evidence that the powerful anaesthetic ketamine is becoming the preferred drug for a new generation of clubbers.

Although no official figures are kept for ketamine's "recreational" use, recent studies suggest there has been a fourfold increase in the numbers using it and customs officials report an "emerging trend" of seizures at ports around the country.

Nick Agha, a club promoter who puts on dance music nights at venues across the UK said: "This is becoming the next in-thing. I first noticed it in Ibiza last year. Lots and lots of people were doing it."

Since then, he said, its popularity has spread to clubs across the UK. "It seems to fit in with the slow dubby music that is popular at the moment. At a lot of venues it has overtaken ecstasy in terms of the number of people doing it."

Ketamine is not a controlled substance, but can only be obtained by prescription. In small amounts users say the powerful anaesthetic used in human and horse surgery induces feelings of euphoria and mild hallucinations.

But drug charities warn that it is very "dose-specific" and taking too much can lead to sickness and blackouts.

Jamie, 32, from London, who is a regular weekend user, said: "The right amount is really enjoyable. It feels like you are floating out of your body, but if you see someone else who has taken ket they are usually staggering around... I suppose it's a bit like having all your arms and legs pulled off and put back on the wrong way round."

He said that in recent months ketamine had become "the drug of choice" for a lot of clubbers. "It has been around on the gay scene for quite a while but now it is everywhere. People often combine it with ecstasy or cocaine or use it at after-club parties."

It is not illegal to possess ketamine but a paper published by the Home Office states that the government is proposing a change in the law following "evidence to suggest that ketamine is increasingly being used by clubbers on the dance scene".

That view is supported by a recent survey for the leading dance magazine Mixmag, which shows that among its readers there has been a four-fold increase in those taking ketamine since 2000.

"In 2004 20% of our readers had taken it in the last month, the highest ever in the survey's history," said Nick Stevenson, news editor at Mixmag. "Now it's become more widespread, trying ketamine isn't seen as such a risk."

But many clubbers do not enjoy the experience. One study cited by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs found that 87% of those who had used it said they would not try it again. "It was like being picked up and thrown across the room," one 30-year-old financial adviser told the Guardian. "When it had worn off a bit I felt like I'd been beaten up."

Ketamine first appeared on the dance scene in the early 1990s when it was often passed off as ecstasy. Observers say its recent popularity is due in part to its perceived purity in relation to cocaine or ecstasy.

The charity Drugscope says it is believed to be particularly popular with students because it is relatively cheap, costing around £20-30 a gram, widely available, and legal to possess.

There are concerns it is even being used by some pupils.

Earlier this year a Wiltshire teacher said it was difficult to teach some teenagers at the beginning of the week because they were lethargic after taking ketamine at the weekend.

Petra Maxwell from Drugscope said there was little research into ketamine's long-term effects, although some studies suggest users can suffer from flashbacks and memory loss. "It is very dose-specific which can lead to problems for people who don't realise how much they are taking," she said.

She warned it could be particularly dangerous if used with depressant drugs such as alcohol, barbiturates, heroin or tranquillisers.

"It can shut down the body to such an effect that vital organs stop functioning," she said.

The Home Office is due to complete its consultation on changing ketamine's legal status at the end of this month."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,2763,1495355,00.html


Also just read that if it gets the go ahead, which we all know it will... it'll be a Class C drug.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Classic bollocks reporting, skirting round the facts if there are any and generally making a story out of next to nothing.

    Who on Earth takes the Mixmag drugs survey as fact?!

    I'm not sure this will become Class C, it would make it very difficult for some animal shelters, farmers and others.

    That comment about it 'shutting down the body' is rubbish into the bargin, used by itself it actually has a high OD threshold, if you are using it by snorting then you'd have to have a massive nose to even get close.

    I'm sure the ACMD will ignore any facts which come their way, which they always do and then just decide what the government wants.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They could put up the penalties for unlicenced supply and importation relatively easily and it wouldnt affect any legal users.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeh that is a pretty crap report, there was a better one in the Daily Mail yesterday... but only just. Unable to find the link on their site.

    It said all medicinal uses will require a licence obviously, and anyone caught without would be prosecuted.... with what they thought would be possesion of a class C drug...

    As said above though, it's a generally safe drug to consume, very hard to OD when insuffilated, you'd have to really want something nasty happen to yourself wanting to snort such a large amount. And probably already in a hole or state of deep unconciouness before you could take such amount.

    Even IM/IV it's relatively safe,its not like heroin where if u misjudge your tolerance you can OD very easily, you'll simple be comatose for about 30 mins.


    This PDF suggests that Ketamine will be re-classified as a Class C substance to "enable the United Kingdom to comply with the UN Conventions on Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances."

    http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs4/ketamine_consultation.pdf

    This from 2002 and includes a table that states there have been no fatalities from Ketamine ...but further into the report it says a "few deaths from overdose are known"!

    http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/doc_centre/drugs/studies/doc/syntetics_drugs_160697.pdf
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There is the very very rare death from people drinking or taking other depressants while using ketamine. But thats not really ketamines fault.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Why does the fact that more people are using a substance mean it should suddenly need to become controlled.

    Ketamine is a relatively "gentle" anaesthetic and as such is used in paediatric medicine (http://medschool.wustl.edu/~wumpa/outlook/summer2003/ouchlessed.html) - the media's constant referrals to "horse tranqulliser" are not helpful when tryng to establish and informed debate.

    I've been using 'K' for a good few years now, more for chilling out after coming home from clubbing rather than when out. Never missed a days work yet!


    "...But drug charities warn that it is very "dose-specific" and taking too much can lead to sickness and blackouts" What? Do they mean like alcohol???
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    K is also very addictive.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    K is also very addictive.

    Can be, most users are completely able to use it and not get a habit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As scouseboy said...ketamine is used as an anaesthic/sedative in paediatric medicine (i'm a paeds nurse)...however we don't use it much in the area i work because of it's side effects...namely cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory depression, hallucinations etc etc. When we do use it as a sedative, the child needs to be closely monitored in a high dependancy unit because of the risks...so i would completely disagree with your description of it as a 'gentle' anaesthetic...no anaesthetic is 'gentle' full stop!!...as each has the possibility of killing you as well!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hang on, ketamine is well known for not depressing respiration or circulation, which is exactly why it used to be used so much on children and on battlefields, surely?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    Hang on, ketamine is well known for not depressing respiration or circulation, which is exactly why it used to be used so much on children and on battlefields, surely?

    Unfortunately it is a anaesthetic, and all anaesthetics affect your respiration and your circulation. Ketamine is in fact known to stimulate the cardiovascular system causing tachycardia and thus the potential for arrhythmias etc. This in turn can lead to respiratory problems, ie reduced oxygen levels in the blood, respiratory depression etc.The main reason it is actually used in paediatrics is because children have a smaller chance of suffering hallucinations as a result...and also, using the right dose, it can be used as a short burst anaesthetic (lasting 5-10mins)...not sure about the battlefield...maybe again because it can be used as a short burst for amputating limbs?!
  • JadedJaded Posts: 2,682 Boards Guru
    From the Ketamine vault on Erowid -
    Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic, developed in the mid 1960's, used primarily for veterinary anaesthesiology. Although Ketamine is not used medically on humans much because it induces psychedelic episodes in patients, it is still used for some limited human applications because it does not depress breathing or circulation.

    It works by blocking nerve paths, (perhaps this contributes to its usefulness on the battlefield?)and can be used on younger children without the risk of hallucinations because in effect they have no sense of self to be disassociated from.
  • JadedJaded Posts: 2,682 Boards Guru
    Ketamine is in fact known to stimulate the cardiovascular system causing tachycardia and thus the potential for arrhythmias etc. This in turn can lead to respiratory problems, ie reduced oxygen levels in the blood, respiratory depression etc.

    This information is from the RX List -
    SIDE EFFECTS

    Cardiovascular

    Blood pressure and pulse rate are frequently elevated following administration of ketamine alone. However hypotension and bradycardia have been observed. Arrhythmia has also occurred.

    Respiration

    Although respiration is frequently stimulated, severe depression of respiration or apnea may occur following rapid intravenous administration of high doses of ketamine. Laryngospasms and other forms of airway obstruction have occurred during ketamine anesthesia.
    This isn't at all common though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its used on the battle field because you dont need lots of extra kit, you can just whack some in them and do your business, you dont need oxygen, or tubes or anything else.
Sign In or Register to comment.