DR MAX PEMBERTON: Ketamine use is soaring - here's what to do if your child is in a K-Hole By Dr Max Pemberton Published: 01:38, 27 May 2024 | Updated: 01:49, 27 May 2024 e-mail View comments Over the past few years working shifts in A&E dealing with patients with mental health problems, I've been struck by the growing number who have come in under the influence of the illegal 'rave drug' ketamine. From something I hardly ever saw when I first started working as a doctor, it has become, in the past decade or so, a regular occurrence. I was working last weekend and saw three patients in one single night shift.
All of them were students and all of them had been brought in after they took too much ketamine and became unresponsive – in effect, passed out. It's shocking how quickly it has become the drug of choice among young people, yet most of the older generation know very little about it. Indeed, the latest figures, put out last week, show ketamine use among 16 to 24-year-olds was at record levels last year, with almost one in 25 in this group in England having taken it.
This is a jump of a fifth on 2020's figure, and also stands four times higher than the levels of a decade ago. Ketamine – also called 'ket' or 'special K' on the streets – is sometimes referred to as a horse tranquilliser, and when taken in small doses is supposed to induce a sense of euphoria in the user and a light, relaxed sensation. Ketamine is sometimes referred to as a horse tranquilliser and when .
