KETAMINE
THE KETAMINE
TRAP
S hould you ask a young person at a party or festival about their drug use, you’ ll likely receive a response along the lines of‘ it’ s just ket’. Ketamine is a dissociative drug, cheap to purchase, easy to order from a phone, and significantly without the obvious usage markers that tip off parents or teachers about its use. For many teenagers and young adults, ketamine is viewed as harmless social succour. The truth is that ketamine is a powerful drug, with a high addiction liability.
Adolescence and emerging adulthood are critical phases of brain development. Executive control functions in the prefrontal cortex continue maturing into the mid-twenties, while the brain’ s reward circuitry remains especially sensitive to novelty and social
For young people, ketamine is attractive, cheap and very easy to access. To be effective, support and education needs to be practical and avoid moralising, says Dr Lisa Ogilvie
reinforcement. In other words, the craving for new experiences often outpaces the capacity to weigh up risks, and young people may not yet have had the life experience needed to fully grasp the consequences of decisions.
Research has demonstrated that this developmental gap is amplified in groups, with studies showing the presence of peers increases risk-taking in adolescents by heightening attention to immediate rewards over potential losses. Add to this the tendency for young people to believe bad outcomes happen to others and you have a recipe for normalising ketamine use in friendship groups.
SOCIAL BONDING There are several reasons why ketamine appeals to young people. It takes effect quickly, bringing feelings of euphoria, disinhibition and detachment within a short time. The intensity of these effects can be adjusted by how much is taken, ranging from a mild lift to a dissociative state. Ketamine’ s psychotropic profile aligns with what young people are drawn to – novelty, intensity of experience, social bonding and altered consciousness. Furthermore, its rapid effect on mood also helps explain why some turn to it as a way of easing anxiety in social situations. Unlike many other drugs, ketamine rarely leaves users with immediate after-effects.
However whilst ketamine does not cause the physical withdrawal seen with some substances, psychological symptoms such as low mood, anxiety and cravings are well documented, and these can drive repeated use.
Ketamine is relatively cheap per session, and it is easily shared among friends. Government data shows that its use is highest among 16-24-year-olds. Crucially, these young people no longer need to know someone‘ dodgy’ to get hold of it. Social media platforms, especially messaging apps, have made access quick and straightforward. In fact, European monitoring has found easy, fast access to dealers, discovered through slang searches and recommendation features. Ketamine appears in the same social media feeds as jokes and everyday chats between friends, blurring the line between social life and drug supply, and further normalising its presence in the digitally connected lives of teens and young adults. mevans / JellyPics
20 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • NOVEMBER 2025 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM