Charity DrugScope reports a worrying trend that young people are taking increasing risks with a drug that is used to tranquilise horses. But a study has thrown up a question on whether its classification is correct.
With its hallucinatory side-effects, ketamine - also known as Special K - is becoming the drug of choice for recreational users.
Its great attraction is cost: at £20 a gramme, it is half the price of cocaine.
Aware of its growing use, in 2006 the government made ketamine a Class C drug, but DrugScope believes this has had little effect on its popularity or availability.
Ketamine can be snorted, but injection is becoming more common as users experiment with higher doses and run the risk of spreading blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C or HIV. Cystitis also seems to be a common side-effect, according to the Journal of Medical Case Reports.
In 2007, The Lancet published the findings of a study into 20 drugs.
All the indicators - the potential for dependence, physical and social harms - suggested that ketamine was a far more dangerous drug than cannabis, or ecstasy come to that.
Class C ketamine came in at number six while cannabis, which is currently subject to a re-classification from C to B, trailed at 11.
Much has been written about the effects, harmful or otherwise, of cannabis and ecstasy as the reclassification process gets under way.
But expert evidence suggests that, if the government wants to be seen as being hard on (soft) drugs, it could perhaps start with ketamine.
Or at least launch a public education programme.
I dont think making Ketamine a higher class drug will make any difference at all. Look at cocaine! I'ts a class A drug, costs £50 to £60 a gramme and it is more popular than ever. Making MDMA a class A drug did nothing to stop people taking it - it's the clubbing drug of choice. However, due to it now being very hard to produce MDMA, you now have drugs like methadone. Two grammes of methadone will put you in hospital, if not kill you. Mixing it with other drugs like cocaine and MDMA can result in death.
All that a class change will do is push up the price and cause the drug to be cut with harmful additives. Where there is demand there will always be supply. If you bust one dealer, another will step into their shoes to fill there client base. It takes a few weeks to resupply the masses.
The government is and has been fighting a losing battle on drugs. Drugs are now so popular and used. When i was at school four people i knew of did drugs. Now drugs are being used loads by 16 years plus, as it's easy to get k, pills, weed or anything else off the dealer than buy beer in a shop.
With pills costing less than £1 and a £20 gramme of ketamine lasting two people all night, cocaine costing less than a beer per line, this is cheaper than getting drunk and frankly more fun. You have no hangover with any of the above; only a slight comedown.
People need to be educated and the goverment needs to face they CANNOT stop drug use or stamp it out. Even if they make it all class A, you're just going to fill out prisons with people who do it. Also the country is DEPRESSED. Drugs are being used more because it means people can get away from financial and the TOTAL MESS this country is in.
The government needs to take out the dealers, by decriminalising some drugs, taxing the living crap out of drugs and controlling them. The dealers will not be able to cover any of their costs because there will be a cheaper product that is not cut and safe. You can purchase if you are over 18 or 21 and you have applied for a licence. You HAVE TO PAY to buy drugs for recreational use.
Or just EDUCATE people rather than prosecute them. It's a losing battle, people! Everyone needs to open their eyes and see this. We are about to see a lot of young people being killed by new designer drugs, like methadrone and other legal or non-classified drugs that are being pushed through and mixed into potentially lethal cocktails.
People have taken drugs, people do take drugs and people WILL continue to take drugs and there will always be people selling them, no matter what class or price. Rather the government sells them, make money and the users be safe than fund crime and have people dying from cut or mixed unsafe drugs.
I think you mean mephedrone, not methadrone.