Understanding the real risks, knowing how to stay safer and spotting early warning signs are key to reducing harm. In this blog, we explain what ketamine is, why its risks are often misunderstood and how early intervention can protect your health.
At Turning Point, we aim to provide clear harm reduction advice and specialist support to help people stay safe and get help sooner.
What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a dissociative drug. It has mildly hallucinogenic properties and causes people to feel separated or detached from their body or physical environment. It is used regularly in veterinary and paediatric medicine as an anaesthetic.
Ketamine is usually snorted but is also occasionally injected and swallowed. It is sold as a fine white powder or in small glass-like shards but also comes in liquid form.
Effects
Euphoria, a sense of calm, loss of coordination, confusion, numbness, nausea, vomiting, ‘K-Hole’.
The effects of ketamine can last around 1 - 2 hours and can vary depending on the environment someone is in when they use it and the amount that they use.
- In a club environment it can be stimulating with increased energy and euphoria.
- In a quiet, relaxed place it can provide a more spiritual experience and a sense of calm.
- At high doses people can experience a “k-hole”, where they may feel detached from their body and experience vivid and sometimes uncomfortable hallucinations.
Risks
- Ketamine can affect your balance and coordination, making it easier to trip or fall. Because it’s an anaesthetic, you might not feel pain if you get hurt, so injuries can go unnoticed.
- Physical effects can include back pain or stomach cramps (called “k-cramps”).
- Bladder and kidney damage can happen with regular use. Signs include needing to pee more often, pain when peeing, or blood in your urine.
- Mental health effects after using ketamine can include anxiety, panic attacks, nightmares, paranoia, hallucinations, and feeling like you or the world aren’t real.
- Tolerance builds quickly, meaning you may need more ketamine to feel the same effect. This increases the risk of dependence and bladder or kidney problems.
- You can’t know what’s in a drug without testing it. It might contain something unexpected or stronger than you think, which can cause dangerous effects.
Harm reduction advice
If you do decide to use drugs, read the harm reduction advice below to help you stay safe:
- Start with a low dose and only use ketamine in a safe environment. Accidentally going into a k-hole in a busy or unsafe place can be a scary and dangerous experience
- Manage how much you take. Don’t do bumps/keys on a dark dancefloor as you may end up taking a bigger dose than you intended
- Stay well hydrated before, during and after taking ketamine to reduce the damage to your bladder
- Avoid mixing with other drugs, particularly other ‘downers’ like alcohol or benzos as they will amplify the effects of each other, putting you at risk of an unpredictable experience
- Keep track of use and take breaks, as using too often can increase tolerance and lead to dependence
- Do not sit in a bath to relieve the pain of cramps as there is a risk of accidental drowning
- If snorting, use your own snorting tube, don’t share with others. Chop the powder up finely to reduce damage to the nose, alternate nostrils and wash out your nose at the end of the night
- We would advise you to avoid injecting, but if you choose to inject ketamine, contact your local service to pick up sterile equipment and get safer injecting advice
- Seek medical help if you start suffering with pain or urinary issues
Ketamine, especially at high doses, can leave you in a confused and vulnerable state, only use with people you trust and look out for each other.
If you or anyone you are with becomes unwell call 999 or seek medical help straight away.
Drug markets are changing
Synthetic opioids are drugs that are made in a lab that act like natural opioids, but they’re often much stronger and more dangerous—especially when mixed with other substances.
These drugs have now been linked to more drug poisoning deaths. Because they’re so powerful, and often combined with other drugs, they can be unpredictable and give you unwanted effects.
Naloxone is a lifesaving medication that can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Turning Point provides free overdose response naloxone kits to people at risk of an opioid overdose, their family and friends, and members of the public who could help prevent an overdose. Download the Opioid Overdose Awareness Toolkit for more advice
Drug testing is important
Drug testing is a vital harm reduction tool that helps people understand what substances they are taking and avoid potentially dangerous contaminated or different drugs than you were expecting. In the UK, services like WEDINOS and The Loop offer different approaches to drug checking.
Where to get support
If you would like to speak to someone for more harm reduction advice or you are worried about your own ketamine use or that of a friend or family member, we can support you. Find a local service
Download the new Substance Use Information cards for more harm reduction advice.