KETAMINE
Trade name Ketalar, Ketajet, Ketaset
A.K.A. Special K or Ket or Vitamin K
By Trinka Porrata
Abuse of ketamine (pronounced Kee-ta-meen) goes hand in hand with gamma hydroxy
butyrate (GHB) and MDMA (Ecstasy). Where you find one, you will likely find the
others. All three are very popular with the RAVE party crowd. Ketamine hcl, a
cat tranquilizer and the most commonly used anesthetic in the Vietnam War, is
also used in sexual assault on occasion since it puts the victim in a frozen
state for at least a brief period of time. It was big in the 70’s with New Age
types like Dr. John Lilly (the model for the William Hurt character in the movie
Altered States) and Timothy Leary.
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Ketamine comes in injectable form, liquid, for legitimate use. It is most
commonly dried (oven or microwave or air). The crusty residue is ground to
a fine powder and is then most commonly inhaled. |
In order for a vial of ketamine to be in an abuser’s hand, someone has
already smuggled it in from Mexico or robbed or burglarized a vet clinic or
pharmacy, or in some other manner diverted the product for illicit use. In spite
of that fact, ketamine is a Schedule III Controlled Substance. It should more
appropriately be a Schedule II substance so that doctors and vets have to
control their inventory of ketamine and provide security for it.
Ketamine is essentially a less-potent version of PCP. While ketamine and GHB and
MDMA provide out of body experiences and whack reality quite a bit, it is still
a bit below the out-to-lunch level of PCP trips. But, of course, that varies
with the amount taken and other drugs combined with it. And, flashbacks from
ketamine are common.
One Ket user stated, “If you take enough [it will] give you a preview of your
own death, put you in contact with seraph-like entities, and convince you that
you’ve just seen God in a disco ball.” True RAVERS boast that they don’t drink
and drive like their parents. Instead, they plan to spend 14 hours or so at a
party. They do their drugs and more drugs, and pass out, and then wake up and
drive. With increasing “semi underground” (such as at fairgrounds and other
unsuspecting locations) and “above ground” (setting up special events at
legitimate clubs and facilities) RAVES, there is an increase in driving under
the influence issues. This is partly because these events have closing times,
dumping the partygoers into the street under the influence of their drugs. Above
ground RAVES typically involve alcohol also.
Like GHB and Rohypnol and MDMA, ketamine has been around for a long time. Abuse
levels wavered in the 1980s but during the 1990s have been on a steady rise. .
Physicians also sometimes personally abuse it. For example, the California
Medical Board has investigated and taken the license of one plastic surgeon that
liked to take it prior to doing surgery. Besides the techno music RAVE set,
ketamine is commonly encountered in homosexual communities.
Ketamine is a psychedelic anesthetic classified medically as a dissociative
anesthetic, discovered by Dr. Cal Stevens of Wayne State University in 1961.
Heavily used on the battlefields of Vietnam, it is used today for short-term
surgical procedures in both animals and humans. For human consumption, it is
marketed as Ketalar by Parke-Davis.
It is sold legitimately only to hospitals and physicians. Since it does not
depress critical body vitals as much as other anesthetics, it is often used in
procedures with burn victims, for example. It produces a dissociative state in
the central nervous system in which amnesia and profound analgesia (loss of
pain) are induced, though the patient does not appear to be asleep. This ability
to induce a lack of awareness to the environment is the effect abusers crave. It
is NOT a “take home” drug that a vet would “prescribe” or give to a pet owner.
Don’t fall for the line, “Oh, my vet gave it to me for my cat.”
It may produce pleasant dream-like states, vivid imagery, hallucinations and
possibly extreme delirium. This usually lasts only a few hours. Excitement and
visual disturbances can recur days or weeks after exposure to ketamine; the
problem with “flashbacks” may be greater with ketamine than with other
hallucinogens. It also produces ataxia, slurring of speech, dizziness,
confusion, blurred vision, anxiety and insomnia. It can also cause cessation of
breathing, cardiac arrest, brain damage and death.
Signs of being under the influence may vary greatly. It may product bursts of
energy, disorientation and mild-to-severe hallucinations. The effects are much
briefer than PCP, lasting only 30-60 minutes versus hours. In larger doses or
mixed with alcohol, it may produce vomiting (which is also commonly associated
with GHB use).
It is not produced clandestinely, since it involves a complicated, multi-step
synthesis and because the necessary chemicals are not readily available. It
comes in injectable form, liquid, for legitimate use. It is most commonly dried
(oven or microwave or air). The crusty residue is ground to a fine powder and
most commonly inhaled. The liquid may be injected, applied to smokable material
or consumed in drinks. Powdered K has been encountered in one-inch ziplock
baggies, paper folds or capsules.
Amnesia may be present for one to two hours. A dose of just 0.07 grams of powder
may produce common symptoms of intoxication and a mechanical buzzing in the
user’s ears. Users of 0.2 grams may enter the mellow, colorful “K-land,” while
0.5 grams is more likely to take you to the “K-Hole,” with out-of-body, near
death encounters, hallucinations and delirium, etc. Effects usually last an hour
or less, but judgement, coordination and senses may be affected for 18 to 24
hours.
Most commonly called Ket, K or Special K, it may also be referred to as Green
(apparently for the green label on the Ketajet box). Other names include 1980
Acid, Super C, Vitamin K, Super Acid, Special LA Coke, Baby Food (users sink
into blissful, infantile inertia) and God (because users often are convinced
they have met their maker), Jet (Texas), Honey Oil, Blast, and Gas. A dose is
called a “bump.” The K-hole is where you go when on it. K-head is a user. Calvin
Klein refers to a combo of cocaine and ketamine. Product 19 refers to a combo of
MDMA and ketamine.
While ketamine is approved for commercial use as a veterinary product in cats
and monkeys for short-duration surgery or immobilization, it is also used in
human medicine. For example:
