Illicit Use of Ketamine on the Rise

Public health officials, law enforcement departments, community leaders, and families must commit to educating themselves and others about the dangers of ketamine experimentation, self-medication, and addiction. The drug’s popularity has increased recently, yet educating the public will play a significant role in curbing experimentation.

Reports show that ketamine, a tranquilizer typically used in veterinary medicine, is becoming a top drug of choice, especially among young people looking to experiment with mind-altering drugs. It’s important that people learn what ketamine is, its risks, and its short- and long-term effects.

What Is Ketamine?

Ketamine is classified as a tranquilizer but is more closely defined as a dissociative anesthetic with some hallucinogenic effects. The drug distorts perception, sight, and sound, making the user feel disconnected and not in control of their environment. Ketamine can cause users to feel detached from physical pain, mental anguish, and their environment. As a sedative, the drug can induce a relaxed calm, though negative side effects often occur and interrupt that state. Because ketamine also causes immobility, pain relief, and short-term amnesia, the drug is sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault.¹

Some of the side effects that ketamine users often experience include:

• Nausea
• Amnesia
• Agitation
• Salivation
• Depression
• Dilated pupils
• Tear secretions
• Unconsciousness
• Cognitive difficulties
• Stiffening of the muscles
• Involuntary rapid eye movement

An overdose on ketamine can cause unconsciousness and dangerously slowed breathing, which can lead to death. Common street names for ketamine include Cat Tranquilizer, Cat Valium, Jet K, Kit Kat, Purple, Special K, Special La Coke, Super Acid, Super K, and Vitamin K.²

Current Trends: Ketamine Seizures on the Rise

According to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, law enforcement seizures of ketamine surged 349% from 2017 through 2022. That same paper reported that the total weight of all ketamine seized increased from 127 pounds in 2017 to 1,550 pounds in 2022, a 1,100% increase. That development has been quite concerning, as researchers suggest the more ketamine users get from illicit sources, the more likely other drugs—like illicit fentanyl—have been added in, and the more likely ketamine users will be exposed to other drugs they never intended to experiment with.³

The researchers spoke to this point, highlighting the direct connection between an increase in addict interest in ketamine and an increase in dangers connected to ketamine use. “This dramatic rise in ketamine seizures by law enforcement may be indicative of rising non-medical and recreational use,” said study co-author Joseph Palamar, a researcher in the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research at NYU School of Global Public Health. “Unlike illegal ketamine years ago, [which was just pharmaceutical-grade ketamine obtained illicitly] most illegally obtained ketamine today is not pharmaceutical grade and is sold in powder form, which may increase the risk that it contains other drugs such as fentanyl,” Palamar said. Given fentanyl’s high potency, individuals who use ketamine laced with fentanyl are far more likely to overdose.⁴

Though ketamine was historically used solely as an animal tranquilizer and sedative, recent years have seen a spike in doctors prescribing the drug to humans as a treatment for pain and depression. According to the study authors, loosened prescribing restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to an industry of pop-up clinics prescribing ketamine online and off-label, which may have played a role in today’s notable increase in interest in the drug.

Overdoses and Deaths Connected to Ketamine

In a comprehensive analysis of 18 medical studies, one group of researchers in 2022 found that at least 138 people had died from using ketamine, and at least 312 overdoses had been recorded by medical personnel. Most cases of death involved the user using more than one drug, even if the user did not know their ketamine supply had been tainted with another drug.⁵

The evidence suggests it is very unlikely that ketamine will cause an overdose when used exactly as prescribed under a physician’s direction. However, the researchers also noted that many people who are now hooked on ketamine started by taking the drug on a legitimate prescription. Once the prescription ran out or became insufficient to treat the patient’s pain or depression, they turned to illicit sources of ketamine, increasing their risk for addiction, overdose, and death.

Inform Loved Ones, Keep Them Safe

Especially now that ketamine is increasingly prescribed for human use, people must become informed about the drug. They have to learn what ketamine is, its negative side effects, the risk for overdose, and the risks connected with illicit ketamine (such as the risk of accidentally consuming fentanyl or other drugs mixed into the ketamine).

If informing and educating one’s family members and loved ones is not enough and someone you’re close to begins experimenting or self-medicating with ketamine, please do everything you can to help them get off the drug. Help them find and enter a qualified residential addiction treatment center if they cannot stop using the drug on their own. Please don’t wait until their addiction worsens and harmful side effects mount.

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