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Ketamine

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Ketamine
Ketamine bottle and inhaler
Releated terms: Vitamin K, Super K, Special K, K, Green, donkey dust.

The Drug

The Effects

The Risks

The Law

The Drug
Overview Appearance Use
Overview

What is ketamine? It’s a powerful general anaesthetic that’s used for operations on humans and animals. The effects don’t last long, but until they wear off, ketamine can cause a loss of feelings in the body and paralysis of the muscles. It can also lead to users experiencing a distortion of reality.

Ketamine can:

  • Reduce sensations in the body, giving users a floating feeling as if the mind and body have been separated.
  • Make some people physically incapable of moving while under the influence. Other users may feel completely detached from their body and surroundings. This has been likened to having a near-death experience and is sometimes called “entering the k-hole”.
  • Like LSD, cause changes to how people see and hear things, and hallucinations. Users can ‘trip’ for up to an hour, and after-effects may be felt for some hours.
  • Cause confusion, panic attacks, and depression, plus when taken in large doses it can make existing mental health problems even worse. 

It has only recently been discovered that ketamine can cause very serious bladder problems with severe pain and difficulty passing urine, and can even result in surgical removal of the bladder.

Next
Appearance

What does ketamine look like?

When used as a medical anaesthetic, ketamine is a liquid, because this makes it easy to inject.

‘Street’ ketamine is normally a grainy, white powder – although sometimes it can come as tablets.

On average, a gram of ketamine in powder form costs £20.

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Use

How is ketamine taken?

There are a number of ways of taking ketamine. No method makes it safe but injecting is very risky:

  • Most people snort ketamine, like cocaine or speed.
  • If it is liquid, it can be injected.
  • Some people swallow it in tablet form.
The Effects

What are the effects of ketamine? 

It’s a general anaesthetic that may produce ‘floaty’ feelings, but it can have negative effects instead, and other serious long-term risks:

  • It can make people feel very chilled out and relaxed, giving a feeling of floating away, as if mind and body have been separated
  • It can make you physically incapable of moving. You can feel completely detached from your body and surroundings, which has been compared to having a near-death experience, sometimes called “entering the k-hole”.
  • Like LSD, ketamine can cause hallucinations. Its can lead to good or bad ‘trips’ that can last for up to an hour, with after-effects that may be felt for some hours.
  • When taken regularly or in large doses it can make existing mental health problems worse and cause confusion, panic attacks and depression. 
The Risks
What are the risks? Impurities Getting hooked
What are the risks?

What are the health risks of ketamine?

Some risks of ketamine have only recently been discovered, for example it can cause serious bladder damage. In fact, it’s risky in a number of ways.

  • Because you don't feel pain properly when you're on ketamine, you can injure yourself badly and not know you've done it.
  • High doses, especially when taken with other substances like alcohol, benzodizepines or opiates, can dangerously affect the way you breathe and how your heart works, and can lead to unconsciousness, which can be even more dangerous if vomit is inhaled. If high doses are taken, it can cause death. And it is certainly not safe to mix alcohol and ketamine.
  • Ketamine can also be very dangerous when mixed with ecstasy or amphetamines, when it can cause high blood pressure.
  • Ketamine causes very serious bladder problems, with severe pain and difficulty passing urine.
  • Abdominal pain or ‘K cramps’ have been reported by many long-term users.
  • Injecting ketamine can damage the veins and can cause serious problems such as abscesses (swollen areas of tissue that are full of pus) and blood clots. Sharing injecting equipment, including needles and syringes, risks infection with hepatitis C and B viruses and HIV.
  • With regular or large doses, ketamine can make existing mental health problems worse, and can cause feelings of confusion, panic attacks and depression
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Impurities

What is ketamine cut with?

Users won’t know whether any ketamine they get through a dealer, even a friend, is definitely ketamine or whether it has been contaminated (or ‘cut’) with any other substances. 

There have been reports of ketamine being cut with the ‘legal high’ MXE while some people have been sold ketamine which is really MXE. MXE is chemically related to ‘dissociative anaesthetics’ like ketamine and has similar effects. But it is much stronger than ketamine and extra care is needed to avoid overdosing.

 

Illegally produced ketamine tablets are commonly found with ephedrine added (commonly used for treatment of allergies and asthma). Sometimes, these pills are mixed with ketamine and passed off as ecstasy.

Only medicinal ketamine would be reliably pure.

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Getting hooked

Can you get addicted to ketamine?

The simple answer is – yes – you can become addicted to it. This means regular users feel the need to keep taking ketamine, in spite of the effects on their health. 

Regular users can also develop tolerance to ketamine, which means they need to take increasing amounts to get the same effects.

There are no physical withdrawal symptoms, so ketamine addiction is sometimes called a ‘psychological dependence’. Dependence is just another name for addiction.

The Law

Ketamine and the law

  • Ketamine is a Class C drug which means that it's illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.
  • Possession can get you up to two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
  • Supplying someone else, even your friends, can get you 14 years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

What if you’re caught?

If the Police catch you with ketamine, they’ll always take some action. This could be a formal caution, or arrest and possible conviction.

A conviction for a drug-related offence could have a serious impact. It can stop you visiting certain countries – for example the United States – and limit the types of jobs you can apply for.

Did you know?

  • Like drinking and driving, driving when high is illegal - and you can still be unfit to drive the day after using ketamine. You can get a heavy fine, be disqualified from driving or even go to prison.
  • Allowing other people to use ketamine, or any other drug, in your house or any other premises is illegal. If the police catch someone using ketamine in a club they can prosecute the landlord, club owner or person holding the party.
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Stories

My mum's birthday on ketamine

I know this sounds shallow, but yes I really did take K on my mum’s birthday. I started taking K at about age 13, I thought I was so cool, all my life I had hung around with older people, I didn’t get on with people my age because they weren’t as cool as the older lot. When my sister’s friends offered me my first line of K, I couldn’t refuse!

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I realised how my ketamine use was affecting others

Now I’m off ketamine, I can see how clearly it was a burden to my life. I first started to try drugs because it split up me and my boyfriend, and I figured, hey, it must be really good to split up a 2 year relationship, so, ket was the first drug I came into contact with. I liked the down feeling it had, it just pushed out all your troubles, sometimes you didn’t even know you existed.

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k

i did k in a music fesival and i warn from my last experiance only do it were u feel safe or with safe people coz when you get K UP u dont want to move so u are very vulnerable and things can happen !

773 people found this helpful

HOW DRUGS MESSED UP MY LIFE

I started smoking weed when i was 13 this quickly developed into me taking mdma ,miaw ,coke and ketamine. im now 16 i have no one my family has disowned me beacause i lied and stole from them and and my dad cant even stand the sight of me. i cant stop taking drugs because i feel like im missing out on the nights out dont make my mistake just dont take drugs

1667 people found this helpful
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