The British Home Office (Interior Ministry) has made a number of ministerial announcements to national media that Ketamine will become a class C drug on 1st January 2006…
As the same time another law change makes all criminal offences in the UK arrestable, so cops can now arrest people who “just have ketamine” (TBH this does not change much at the frontline as cops would often suspect any powder is cocaine until they can prove otherwise and arrest people anyway)
Whilst I felt a change in the law was inevitable (particularly as governments of other nations where the substance is produced in quantity complained to London that the trade was increasing domestic crime and corruption) I don’t think its timing is going to do the country (and in particular the NHS) any favours
A lot of people may be trying it for the first time – or attempting to exhaust personal supplies “before its outlawed” so they don’t get nicked..
I can see Emergency Departments countrywide rammed full with k-“casualties”, along with all the other carnage (and what would freak out a k-holer more than being abruptly carted into A&E at a festive season – a brightly lit building full of people with uniforms, radios and lots of angry and bloodied/battered fellow patients?)
Of course when the everyone rightly complains about this the Govt will only say “told you so, the drug is dangerous, look at all the problems it has caused…”
looking at this massive spate of SE Asian busts on the news, I wonder if the UK rush to ban this stuff is out of fear of the “yellow peril” – a paranoia that SE Asian drugs gangs will move in on the ketamine trade (as they already have done on commercial cannabis growing in some areas of Londonistan!) – and a result of Eastern and Western law enforcement agencies and government working together to rein in the hedonistic excesses of their youth?
I don’t know if that’s the case or not. I have seen some of my friends over the last year or so get into awful problems with K. Like anything else, the right information allows people to make informed choices about what they take.
its class C but this can only be proven by boffins testing the powder with a mass spectrometer which shows chemical composition – “white powder” could be anything from cocaine to icing sugar otherwise.
thisi is one of TVP’s old tricks.. (i guess it happens elsewhere as well though) its happened to loads of people I know
the police they are under government instructions to “reduce class A drug use”.
So whenever cops find any powder (whatever it is) they put it down as class A, and if anyone is arrested for a small amount for personal use and doesn’t look like a violent dealer or someone already they are given the choice of accepting a caution/reprimand for Class A posession (i.e a minor bollocking and then out of the cells and on the street again), or going to Court (which means being on bail and your name in the papers even if you are let off). Its obvious what choice most people take, particularly after spending time in the cells!
the cops can then claim they have “stopped class A drugs hitting the streets” even though they have actually confiscated something else, and it makes the government figures look better.
i think “rammed” is a bit strong, while it can be incredibly dangerous, i dont think its gonna become epidemic (o.d.s that is, not use)
as for being carted into hopsital, as it is a disascociative, and hospitals are relatively safe places, i wouldnt think it would sketch people out and more than walking home would.
my original worry was about peopel caning it for the last day of legality in 2005 – which thankfully didn’t happen. OTOH hospital admissions for drug users still aren’t much fun.
various family members work in NHS Emergency care and have to deal with the drugs casualties – without breaking the confidentiality rules what happens below is a true account of the situation
it depends a lot on what hospital and what time you are in there.. – if its the weekend in a city hospital its full of bloodied chavs still wanting to carry on fighting, their friends/relatives taking sides, RTC victims and relatives, cops and rentaguards, overworked and stressed paramedics etc…
Hospital staff are mostly about the same age as us and usually have had to give up their weekend to do the shift they are on; then they have to deal with some sketchy fuckers who have overdone things. they are not stupid, some like a party as well 😉 and know the symptoms. if the staff can they put minor drugs casualties into a quiet room and let them sober up – but quite often these rooms are taken up by relatives of other casualties or even cops taking statements from rape/assault victims etc.
And patients names still oftrn get taken down and passed to their GP and a count is made of how many “drug users” have come in for emergency treatment – in some areas this is passed on (without nameS) to local drug action teams.
Of course if someone cannot breathe or is showing any signs of a fit they must be immediately conveyed to hospital by the Ambulance Service (and even then its cat C (lowest) priority if drugs are suspected to be involved) but the NHS can’t afford to keep chill out spaces on standby for k-holers,
Best place for them is a quiet area with good friends who can look after them.
definitely. if the government stopped filling its pants over drugs and had the bravery to legalise em, then the tax should pay for dedicated drug wings to hospitals, or seperate locations to deal with the “quite fucked but not O.D.ing crowd”. then again, they would prolly turn into mini raves themselves, and attract alsorts. difficult one.
if you can understand medical jargon theres info here about how little kids got 100x accidental overdoses and survived.
the NHS staff I know pointed out as well they give doses which are way more than most people take recreationally for legitimate use as the idea is to render people unconcious so they can cut them open and/or patch them up again!
http://www.partyvibe.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=22569&postcount=4
when me and my mate swere getting into our pills, abotu 97-98, another one of our less close freinds moved into a squat in london. the principle source of income was imported barrels of k from india.(fuck knows what capacity they were, but they were about 3/4 the size of oil drums) initially she had nowt to do with it, but as the months crept on she started singing its praises and got very hooked. about 6months a year passes and in that time the tolerance she built up allowed her to do hiddeous ammounts. she started shooting, and thats when she ended up in hospital with respitory failure. i have seen people hoof foot long lines, which must be about a gram at least, and it doesnt take long before you are doing multiple lines like that in one day. she went back the squat after the scare, and conintued, mainly cos her parents were such utter dicks about it, acting as if she’d done it just to piss them off, and like they were the main victims in it all. so a few months later shes back again, but cos me and few others have ben petitioning her folks, they send her to rehab. she got out, and now is straight as, happy as you like with a great job.
but she was lucky.
NB: the following has been compiled from discussions with various healthcare staff and net research (and some years of using myself as a lab rat!) I only fix computers/business problems, not people… if anyone reading here is unwell and worried about their health then see a real health professional..
one problem which occurs when people do large amounts of drugs is something called “co-morbidity” – where because of their lifestyles they eventually end up suffering from a plethora of physical and mental health problems.
squats also tend to be places which are often poorly heated/ventilated and are not always kept as clean as a “normal” house would be – parties expose you to massive changes in temperature (exacerbated by the effects of drugs on body temperature) and everyone elses bugs and germs…
the effects of not sleeping/drinking/eating and staying awake for extended periods in cold/unsanitary conditions make the body more susceptible to attack from viruses etc – the “ravers flu” that some people experience [1], which can often become bronchitis for those who cane it through the winter, or even pneumonia amongst the homeless (thats why so many of them rarely see their mid forties).
Also a lot more people than you may realise suffer from asthma/allergies – stimulants (including ketamine) [2] initially “cure” these but theres a rebound effect on the comedown. Many outdoor events happen in areas where there is plenty of stuff people are allergic to…
in simple terms if someones respiratory system is already stressed from a physical illness, the extra pressure on the heart and vital organs from drugs could easily create a life-threatening situation for which they need immediate medical attention.
If anyone with you starts having what appears to be an asthma attack (breathing troubles) then you must dial 999 or 112 for the Ambulance service.
All NHS staff I have spoken to seem to realise that this is not a time to make judgements about “right or wrong” if drugs are involved (people could be having asthma anyway!)
[1] a common ravers “conspiracy theory” was that “babylon” deliberately contaminated drugs with flu/cold viruses (a bogus theory as these viruses do not survive long outside a human or animal body).
[2] although ketamine is seen sometimes as a depressant it actually stimulates the heart and breathing and keeps the airways open which is why its used in anaesthesia.
although assuming he is otherwise healthy a serious emergency is unlikely (people develop amazing levels of tolerance) the mental and societal effects are more insidious.
although the stuff can be fun in small doses, he may well end spending the later part of the evening dying a thousand deaths on the loo; in a k-hole lined with self-pity.
His insides probably feel like they have been turned inside out the next day; as well as minor respiratory ailments like colds etc caused by the effect of snorting powder, massive changes in body temperature as well as sleep deprivation etc – this (perhaps more than drugs itself?) causes the irritability of comedowns.
now although none of this will kill a person that quickly (the main paranoia that most people have about drugs) but it can over a long term wreck someones state of health – and it slowly affects others as well.
People end up lunching out work, college, even social activities with friends or partners and become more insular, often lashing out at those close to them if challenged about their usage patterns. sometimes this can result in actual violence. They often also find they are missing most of the week from simply catching up on sleep due to the recovery times.
TBH most people eventually realise the state they are in and come back from it (most old skool ravers learnt about excessive drug use the hard way) – but only after they have passed a lot of the pain on to others; whom in turn sometimes strike back by complaining to the media and authorities that there should be ever stricter penalties against alternative youth lifestyles which permit drug use.
More of my friends have dies through K than any other drug. Mostly through accidents but a few have choked on vomit while gouged.
In addition i have had experience of multiple urinary infections caused by alcohol dehydration that got into my kidneys (really fucking painfull) cracked ribs and not remembered how as well as lots of other minor injuries.
I have also seen friends loose touch with reality and undergo psycosis, though one managed to get of K by switching to Heroin his mum just kicked him out for selling her video.
I think K is a fucking amazing drug and i have had profound experiences with it, I just think people should treat it with the respect such a powerfull drug deserves.
I honestly think it should have been made class A. Though I believe all drugs should be legal and everyone should be educated honestly about the real risks involved.
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