Advice to families on Ketamine and Mephedrone

Unfortunately, over the last 12 months, more and more young people are using ketamine or mephedrone. Here are some of the potential dangers of these substances.

Ketamine

Ketamine, also known as ‘K’ or ‘Special K’ is a short-acting but powerful general anesthetic which depresses the nervous system and causes a temporary loss of body sensation. That’s why it has been used for operating on humans and animals. It has powerful hallucinogenic qualities (with a distortion of objects and reality).

The risks:

• Users may be physically incapable of moving while under the influence.
• Ketamine can cause panic attacks, depression, and taken in large doses, can make existing mental health problems worse.
• Because you don't feel any pain when you're on ketamine, you can injure yourself badly and not know you've done it.
• High doses, especially with other depressant drugs like alcohol, can dangerously suppress breathing and heart function and can lead to unconsciousness.
• Ketamine is very dangerous when mixed with ecstasy or amphetamines. It can result in high blood pressure.
• If high enough doses are taken, the anesthetic effect can result in death, for example due to unconsciousness and inhalation of vomit.
• There have been recent reports in the medical literature of serious bladder and related problems found in ketamine users.

Mephedrone

A stimulant drug belonging to the chemical family of cathinones which is a group of drugs that are ‘cousins’ of the family of amphetamine compounds. The amphetamine-like drugs include amphetamine itself (speed), methamphetamine and ecstasy (MDMA), among many others. Mephedrone produces euphoria, alertness, talkativeness and feelings of empathy. It can also cause anxiety and paranoid states and risks overstimulating the heart and circulation, and it risks overstimulating the nervous system to cause fits. There is developing evidence on the risk of death from using mephedrone. When sold over the internet, it was often described as a plant food, research chemicals or bath salts, and not for human consumption.

The risks:

• Likely dangers associated with mephedrone are becoming clearer as more reports emerge.
• Mephedrone can overstimulate the heart and effects on the circulation probably account for reports by users of blue or cold fingers.
• It can overstimulate the nervous system to cause fits, agitation and hallucinations.
• It can also cause anxiety and paranoid feelings.
• Severe nosebleeds have been reported after snorting.
• Other effects that have been reported include palpitations, insomnia, loss of short-term memory, vertigo, grinding of teeth, sweating and uncomfortable changes in body temperature (importantly overheating from the use of other amphetamine-type drugs has been a significant cause of deaths).
• Mephedrone has been identified as a possible contributor to a number of deaths in the UK, with a confirmed case in Sweden.
• You increase the risks to yourself if you combine alcohol with mephedrone or any substance that causes a ‘high’, including increasing the risk of death.

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