NEWS ROUND-UP
Ketamine deaths increase twenty-fold in a decade
D eaths involving ketamine have increased twenty-fold since 2014, according to research by King’ s College London, the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University. However, the fact that the deaths are‘ increasingly occurring in complex polydrug settings’ raises doubts over the extent to which single-substance drug policies can reduce harms, the researchers state.
The study – which is based on analysis of coroners ' reports in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and represents the most detailed assessment of ketaminerelated deaths to date – found just under 700 fatalities with detections of illicit ketamine between 1999 and 2024, with annual deaths increasing from 15 in 2014 to almost 200 projected deaths last year.
However, while the number of deaths involving postmortem detections of ketamine have been increasing over the last decade, the proportion where the drug was the‘ sole or primary cause’ has fallen, reflecting‘ a shift towards increasingly risky patterns of polydrug use’. Just under 300,000 adults in England and Wales reported using ketamine in 2022-23.
While the widely reported ketamine-related harms among young people – such as irreversible bladder damage – continue to be a concern, the analysis also detected a demographic shift towards deaths among‘ older and socioeconomically disadvantaged dependent drug users’ rather than them being confined to a younger recreational population.
A more comprehensive response to ketamine-related harms is needed, the report states, including an expansion of drug checking services, better education on the risks of polydrug use, and improved integration of ketamine users into treatment pathways.
A study by the University of Exeter and UCL published earlier this year found that almost half of people affected by ketamine use disorder were not seeking any support or treatment( DDN, May, page 4). Ketamine was controlled as a class C drug almost 20 years ago then reclassified to class B in 2014, with the Home Office currently considering whether to reclassify it as a class A substance.
‘ We are seeing more ketamine-related deaths, but these deaths rarely involve ketamine alone,’ said lead author of the King’ s College study Dr Caroline Copeland.‘ This means single-drug
Dr Caroline Copeland
policies, such as reclassification, are unlikely to tackle the real drivers of harm. Illicit ketamine use has moved beyond the recreational setting.’
Deaths following illicit ketamine use in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 1999 – 2024 published in Journal of Psychopharmacology at https:// journals. sagepub. com / home / jop www. kcl. ac. uk
National IPS coverage goal‘ very close to being met’
Research funding announced
THE GOAL OF ACHIEVING NATIONAL COVERAGE for Individual Placement and Support( IPS) in community drug and alcohol treatment is very close to being met, says a RAND Europe and King’ s College review, with 145 out of 151 local authorities now delivering it.
Originally developed for people receiving treatment for mental illness, IPS is an individualised employment support model that was first trialled in drug and alcohol services in 2018, with the 2021 ten-year drug strategy committing to achieving full coverage by March 2025.‘ I wanted IPS available in every local authority,’ Professor Dame Carol Black told DDN earlier this year, adding that‘ we are getting results – we’ re getting people back into work, or into work for the first time’( DDN, February, page 14).
The aim of the new OHID-commissioned study is to evaluate the scale-up and delivery of IPS in the treatment sector in order to identify barriers and inform service improvement. While it takes time to embed IPS in treatment services most IPS teams reported a high level of integration, with team members using a range of strategies – such as sharing personal stories as well as data – to raise awareness and challenge misconceptions held by some treatment staff about employment’ s role in recovery.
‘ Building strong relationships with treatment staff is crucial for effective integration and promoting referrals to the IPS service,’ the report says. While the knowledge and skills of IPS team members were crucial to success, timelimited funding made recruitment and retention‘ more challenging’, as most were employed on fixed-term contracts.
Report at https:// www. rand. org / pubs / research _ reports / RRA3950-1. html
MORE THAN £ 10M IN FUNDING will be made available to address the UK’ s‘ critical shortage’ of world-class researchers, the government has announced. The money will be provided for three schemes via the Addiction Healthcare Goals, which were launched in 2022.
The‘ flagship’ scheme will be delivered by the Society for the Study of Addiction( SSA), with additional funding provided to the National Institute for Health and Care Research( NIHR) to‘ support career development opportunities across the UK’, from pre- to post-doctoral levels. Further funding will to go to the Medical Research Council( MRC) for clinical research training fellowships, clinical scientist fellowships and career development awards.
‘ By backing the future leaders of addiction research, we are laying the groundwork for the vital, evidence-based prevention measures and treatments we need,’ said science minister Lord Vallance.
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • OCTOBER 2025 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM