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Street Name / Slang Terms
Blind Squid, Breakfast Cereal, Cat Valium, Date Rape Drug, Green, K, Keller, Keller’s Day, Ket, Ketaject, Ketalar, Kit Kat, New Ecstasy, Psychedelic Heroin, Purple, Special-K, Special la coke, Super Acid, Super-C, Super-K, Vitamin K, and Vit K.

   Slang for experiences related to ketamine or effects of ketamine include, K-hole, K-land, baby food, and God.

 

What is it ?
Ketamine hydrochloride is a central nervous system depressant and a rapid-acting general anesthetic. It has sedative-hypnotic, analgesic, and hallucinogenic properties. It is marketed in the U.S. and a number of foreign countries for use as a general anesthetic in both human and veterinary medical practices.

 

What does it look like ?
Clear liquid or white powder, similar to cocaine.

 

How is it used ?
As a liquid, the most potent ways of using it are by injecting it intramuscularly or intravenously. There is the risk of losing motor control before injection is completed. Ketamine also can be made into a tablet, or a powder by evaporating the liquid and reducing it to a fine white powder that can be smoked or snorted.

   It is being abused by an increasing number of young people as a club drug, and is often distributed at raves and parties.

   Because of its appearance, ketamine is often mistaken for cocaine or crystal methamphetamine. Some reports indicate it is sometimes sold on the streets as MDMA (ecstasy) and mixed with other drugs such as ephedrine and caffeine. Cafeteria use — the use of a number of hallucinogenic and sedative/hypnotic club drugs such as MDMA, GHB, LSD, and illegally used prescription drugs — is reported almost everywhere in the U.S.

 

Short Term Effects
Ketamine produces a disassociative state in a user. Effects can range from rapture to paranoia to boredom. The user feels its hallucinogenic effects and experiences impaired perception. Ketamine commonly elicits an out-of-body or near-death experience; it can render the user comatose.

    Ketamine is similar molecularly to phencyclidine (PCP) and thus creates similar effects including numbness, loss of coordination, sense of invulnerability, muscle rigidity, aggressive/violent behavior, slurred or blocked speech, exaggerated sense of strength, and a blank stare. Since ketamine is an anesthetic, it stops the user from feeling pain, which could lead the user to inadvertently cause injury to them self. Ketamine may relieve tension and anxiety, is purported to be a sexual stimulant, and intensifies colors and sounds.

   The effects of a ketamine high usually last an hour but they can last for 4–6 hours, and 24–48 hours are generally required before the user will feel completely normal again. Low doses (25–100mg) produce psychedelic effects quickly. Large doses can produce vomiting and convulsions and may lead to oxygen starvation to the brain and muscles; one gram can cause death.

 

Long Term Effects
Effects of chronic use of ketamine may take from several months to two years to wear off completely. Long-term effects include tolerance and possible physical and/or psychological dependence. Flashbacks may even occur one year after use.

 

Federal Classification
Schedule III

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