The Washington Post (5/24, Gilbert) reports, “U.S. authorities have seized increasing quantities of illegal ketamine, according to new research, a trend that coincides with the psychedelic drug’s rising popularity as a treatment for mental health ailments.” In fact, “the number of ketamine seizures by federal, state and local law enforcement in the United States increased from 55 in 2017 to 247 in 2022, while the total weight increased by more than 1,000 percent over that time, according to a” research letter published online May 24 in JAMA Psychiatry. The study’s lead author “sees the trend of seizures as evidence of greater recreational demand for ketamine.”
CNN (5/24, McPhillips) reports, “In addition to the risk of contamination with other potent drugs, using ketamine without medical supervision could lead to adverse outcomes, experts” contend. Gerard Sanacora, MD, PhD, “a psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine,” stated, “Ketamine is possibly the major advance in the area of psychiatry in the past fifty years, but it’s not without risk.” Dr. Sanacora added, “The reality is it is an amazing treatment for many people, but we also know that it is a drug that people misuse and will abuse. And if there isn’t tight control on it, you can guarantee that it will find its way into illicit drug use.”
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