EXCLUSIVE The rise of ketamine as Gen Z's drug of choice: From 'ket walks' to k-holes, TikTokers share videos showing anaesthetic's effects amid fears social media is fuelling use
Rocketing ketamine use among Gen Z-ers is being fuelled by TikTokers making light of the drug by posting videos of their friends experiencing its effects, experts warned today.
Rocketing ketamine use among Gen Z-ers is being fuelled by TikTokers making light of the drug by posting videos of their friends experiencing its effects, experts warned today.
The horse tranquiliser is now the drug of choice among Brits aged 16 to 24, with the latest government figures showing that consumption among the age group - dubbed Generation K - has tripled since 2016.
Deaths related to the drug are up a shocking 650 per cent on 2015 and now average around one per week, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that shows 53 people lost their lives in 2023.
Yet despite these threats, social media users regularly make light of its impacts - with a trend for videos showing users in k-holes (the disassociate state associated with heavy usage).
Other clips uncovered by MailOnline on TikTok reveal intoxicated users struggling to stay on their feet on so-called ket walks or standing immobile while staring into the distance on dance floors.
Ian Hamilton, a leading drugs expert who serves as associate professor of addiction at the University of York, said there was no doubt social media content was helping to fuel ketamines popularity.
Young people see these videos on TikTok and that has accelerated its use, he told MailOnline. Its really worrying, particularly the content about what people refer to as k holes.
Weve seen how particular challenges start trending and can result in fatalities. The same thing happens with drugs - they dont come out of a vacuum.
This clip showed a man wobbling on his feet in what was branded a ket walk
In footage filmed at dance festival Creamfields, a youngster was filmed by friends looking confused and disorientated
Deaths related to the drug are up a shocking 650 per cent on 2015 and now average around one per week, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Professor Hamilton said the use of ketamine in anaesthetic medicine had led to a misconception that it is safe.
These people have no idea what the dose is or how to use it, he said.
Quite often they are inexperienced users. Ketamine takes a while to affect you so quite often people will take another dose and by the time they feel the effects its too late. That can push them into unconsciousness or serious health problems.
Theres also a misconception about drugs that its dealers that young people and adults interact with, but it tends to be social contacts or a friend of a friend - which gives a false sense of reassurance.
The other thing were seeing is ketamine being used with alcohol, which is really worrying. Both are suppressants, so taking them together increases your risk of serious health problems.
In the year ending March 2023, an official study showed 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 admitted they had used the substance during the previous 12 months. It was up from 117,000 a decade earlier and the highest level yet seen.
Scott Ardley, a senior treatment advisor at Rehabs UK, argued that the low price of the drug was also a factor behind its increasing popularity.
The drug is around £10 a gram or £25 for 3.5 grams, but weve heard that someone accessed an ounce for £90 (28 grams) working out to £3.21 a gram. It can work out cheaper than cannabis and in some cases alcohol.
Cocaine is around £80-£100 a gram so therefore Ketamine is much more accessible as it can also be produced in the UK.
James Boland, 38, from Manchester, died of sepsis caused by a kidney infection which was a complication of long-term use of ketamine
Sophie Russell, 20, died in September after developing a ketamine addiction
This clip was subtitled when the K kicks in and showed a man staring into the distance on a dancefloor
He added that youngsters were frequently targeted by dealers online, with Snapchat a particularly popular forum for selling the drug due to disappearing messages.
The dangers of ketamine have been thrown into the spotlight by the recent deaths of several celebrities.
These include RuPauls Drag Race star The Vivienne, who had a cardiac arrest after taking ketamine, and Friends actor Matthew Perry - whose death at the age of 54 in 2023 was caused by the acute effects of ketamine and the opioid buprenorphine.
The drug is also an ingredient in pink cocaine, which One Direction star Liam Payne had taken before falling off a balcony in Argentina last year. He suffered multiple traumas and internal and external haemorrhaging from the fall.
Ketamine, known as K or Special K, comes as a powder and is usually snorted.
It can lead to a relaxed and dream-like sensation, but taking too much can cause temporary paralysis.
Longer-term use can lead to memory loss, mental health problems and organ damage.
Sophie Russell, from Lincolnshire, died in September after using the drug daily, which had caused her agonising abdominal pains and incontinence.
Her mother Tracy Marelli said the drug destroyed her.
James Boland, 38, from Manchester, died of sepsis caused by a kidney infection which was a complication of long-term use of ketamine.
Speaking for the first time about his descent into addiction, his mother revealed how he went into rehab in 2020 over his cocaine use.
He seemed fine the rest of that year but in early 2021 hed started taking ketamine and we assume, took more and more of it regularly, she said.
After the inquest Greater Manchester South senior coroner Alison Mutch warned of a significant increase in people using ketamine and said maintaining its classification encourages people to use it over class A drugs.
Ms Mutch wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths report last November, addressed to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, warning that action on ketamine must be taken.
She warned that the extent of the long-term risks of ketamine were rarely understood by users until the damage has been done to their health.
In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken, she said.
Maintaining its classification as a Class B drug was likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is safer.
In response, Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said she was writing to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) asking whether ketamines classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act should be raised.
Dame Diana said: Ketamine is an extremely dangerous substance and the recent rise in its use is deeply concerning.
It is vital we are responding to all the latest evidence and advice to ensure peoples safety and we will carefully consider the ACMDs recommendations before making any decision.
Reclassifying ketamine as Class A would see it carry the same penalties for possession and supply as heroin, crack and cocaine.
Dealing ketamine currently carries up to 14 years imprisonment, while possession carries up to five years.
Raising it to Class A would increase those penalties to life for dealing and seven years for possession.