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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); Office of the Surgeon General (US). Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2016 Nov.
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health [Internet].
Show detailsKetamine
| A dissociative drug, hallucinogen, which causes the user to feel detached from reality.i | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common Commercial Names | Street Names | Common Forms | Common Ways Taken | DEA Schedule / Legal Status |
| Ketalar | Cat Valium, K, Special K, Vitamin K | Liquid, white powder | Injected , snorted, smoked (powder added to tobacco or marijuana cigarettes), ingested | Schedule III / Legal by prescription only |
| Uses & Possible Health Effectsii | ||||
| Short-term Symptoms of Use | Problems with attention, learning, and memory; dreamlike states, hallucinations; sedation; confusion and problems speaking; memory loss; stiffening of the muscles and numbness; problems moving, to the point of being immobile; increased blood pressure; nausea; unconsciousness; slowed breathing (respiratory depression) that can lead to death. | |||
| Long-term Consequences of Use and Health Effects | Ulcers and pain in the bladder; kidney problems; stomach pain; depression; flashbacks; and poor memory. | |||
| Other Health-related Issues | Sometimes used as a date rape drug. Risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases from shared needles. | |||
| In Combination with Alcohol | Increased risk of adverse effects. | |||
| Withdrawal Symptoms | Unknown. | |||
| Medical Use | Used as an anesthetic agent. | |||
| Treatment Optionsiii | ||||
| Medications | There are no FDA-approved medications to treat addiction to ketamine or other dissociative drugs. | |||
| Behavioral Therapies | More research is needed to determine if behavioral therapies can be used to treat addiction to dissociative drugs. | |||
| Statistics as of 2015iv | ||||
| Prevalence | Lifetime: 3.0 million persons (1.1%) aged 12 or older have used ketamine in their lifetime. Past Year: Data not collected. | |||
| Average Age of Initiation | Hallucinogens in general: 19.6 | |||
- i
Source: NIDA, (2016).
- ii
Sources: NIDA, (2016) & DEA, (2015).
- iii
Source: NIDA, (2016).
- iv
Source: CBHSQ, (2016).
- [Table], Ketamine - Facing Addiction in America[Table], Ketamine - Facing Addiction in America
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