Top UK doctors: We MUST tackle rising numbers of young people addicted to ketamine

Ketamine addiction is a “rapidly growing national problem”, a leading British doctor with more than 20 years’ experience in treating substance abuse has warned.

Private clinics specialising in ketamine addiction are seeing a rise in the number of young people seeking help, while the NHS service is reporting a similar increase.

According to experts, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg, as many more people with problems do not seek help.

Owen Bowden-Jones, a psychiatrist and founder of the groundbreaking Club Drug clinic, fears some are now using the drug to alleviate mental health problems.

He suggests that the rise in addictions could be due to people struggling to access NHS psychiatric care for other problems, such as trauma.

Clinics specializing in ketamine addiction (pictured) have reported an increase in the number of young people seeking treatment

UK Addiction Treatment reported that admissions for ketamine, which is usually supplied as a crystalline powder or liquid, have doubled from 198 in 2020 to 397 in 2023.

Professor Bowden-Jones said The guard that he knows from experience that young people who have ‘suffered trauma’ use the drug as an ’emotional numbing agent’.

He added: ‘I feel like the vast majority are using it as self-medication for emotional stress.

“I think that would mean they have found a pharmacological, rapid way to improve their mental health.”

The number of people with ketamine dependence seeking help from NHS drug and alcohol services has doubled in recent years: from 1,140 in 2019 to 2,211 in 2023.

Rehabs UK also received 4,000 requests in 2023, with ketamine accounting for 30 per cent so far in 2024, up from 15 per cent in 2023.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that last year one in 20 (4.8 per cent) of 20- to 24-year-olds in England and Wales admitted to using the drug.

This is despite the fact that Generation Z is increasingly distancing itself from other types of drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Another concerned expert is Dr Irene Guerrini, who opened her clinic in Bexley in 2022 after noticing a rise in young people with ketamine addictions, leaving many “medically seriously ill”.

The clinic works closely with mental health institutions and urologists, as the drug can cause serious bladder problems.

Other physical risks include increased blood pressure and heart rate, and damage to the bladder and kidneys.

The drug is attracting renewed attention for its role in the death of Friends star Matthew Perry (pictured), who was dosed with ketamine up to six times a day in the week before his death.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in ketamine, also known as vitamin K, Special K or Ket, as a possible treatment for mental health.

The drug increases the amount of glutamate in the brain, a neurotransmitter crucial for mood regulation, learning, memory and information processing.

Ketamine therapy involves taking an extremely low dose of the drug to induce its glutamate-enhancing effects. The issues are then resolved with the help of a trained psychotherapist.

Proponents claim that taking the drug makes a patient open up emotionally and more receptive to therapy.

The treatment has received support from high-profile celebrities including Sharon Osborne, Chrissy Teigen and Elon Musk.

However, ketamine therapy, as it is also known, has also been linked to the death of Friends actor Matthew Perry, who was found drowned in his hot tub last year.

The 54-year-old, who has a long history of substance abuse, attempted to obtain ketamine from psychiatric clinics before buying it illegally, it was reported.

His assistant injected him with the drug and later, when he returned, found him lying in the water, facing the city.

Here we reveal how the substance – now used in private clinics for its supposed antidepressant effects – can wreak havoc in the body within an hour of taking a big hit, leaving users paralysed, unable to breathe and choking on their own vomit.

Despite concerns, ketamine is now allowed to be prescribed in the UK as a so-called ‘off-label’ treatment.

This means that a drug approved for a different purpose is prescribed by doctors.

Some private clinics are now offering it to treat depression. And ketamine is already being used by doctors as an anesthetic for medical procedures.

But even relatively small amounts of the drug can cause an overdose.

Typically, users experience an increase in heart rate and even palpitations within a few minutes of taking the drug. At the same time, blood pressure drops for 10 to 20 minutes, resulting in a dizzy and faint feeling.

Tolerance to the drug is known to build rapidly, causing users to want to take more to get high, creating the risk of overdose.

Higher doses can also lead to a phenomenon called the ‘k-hole’: an intense feeling of dissociation, delirium and a sense of being disconnected or unable to connect with reality.

Dr Sham Singh, a psychiatrist at the Winit Clinic, previously told MailOnline: ‘It can be highly addictive because it is a dissociative anaesthetic with euphoric and hallucinogenic effects, which makes it dangerous.’