Ketamine – “Special K”

• What is Ketamine?
• Ketamine – What are the effects?
• Ketamine – dosage / amount?
• Ketamine – What are the risks?

Ketamine – What is it?

• Ketamine hydrochloride (“Special K” or “K”) was originally created for use as a human anaesthetic, and is still used as a general anaesthetic for children, persons of poor health, and in veterinary medicine.
• Ketamine belongs to a class of drugs called “dissociative anaesthetics,” which separate perception from sensation. Other drugs in this category include include PCP, DXM and nitrous oxide (laughing gas).
• Ketamine usually comes as a liquid in small pharmaceutical bottles, and is most often cooked into a white powder for snorting.

Ketamine – What are the Effects?

• At lower doses it has a mild, dreamy feeling similar to nitrous oxide. Users report feeling floaty and slightly outside their body. Numbness in the extremities is also common.
• Higher doses produce a hallucinogenic (trippy) effect, and may cause the user to feel very far away from their body.
• This experience is often referred to as entering a “K-hole” and has been compared to a near death experience with sensations of rising above one’s body. Many users find the experience spiritually significant , while others find it frightening.
• While in a K-hole it is very difficult to move. People usually remain seated or lying down during the experience.

Ketamine – What is the Dosage?

• Most people snort small lines or “bumps” for a mild, dreamy effect. The effect comes on within about 5 to 10 minutes.
• 100mg is usually enough to enter a K-hole.
• If liquid is injected into the muscle, less is needed to enter a K-hole. Effects can be felt within four minutes. (Ketamine is never injected into the vein).
• If swallowed, the effects come on in 10 – 20 minutes.
• Some people become nauseous after taking ketamine.
• Occasionally ketamine has been sold in a capsule as “Ecstasy,” although it is nothing like MDMA (real ecstasy). An ecstasy testing kit can be used to screen against fake ecstasy tablets.

Ketamine – Risks?

• While low doses of Ketamine can increase heart-rate, at higher doses it depresses consciousness and breathing and is extremely dangerous to combine with downers like alcohol, Valium or GHB.
• Frequent use can cause disruptions in consciousness and lead to neuroses or other mental disorders.
• Ketamine can cause a tremendous psychological dependence. The dissociation from one’s consciousness experienced with ketamine can be highly seductive to some people, and there are many cases of ketamine addiction.