An upsurge in the importation of a drug often used in date rape has authorities worried.
Ketamine, available as a prescription medicine in New Zealand, comes in liquid and powder form.
Commonly known on the streets as Special K, it can be sold for up to $50 a tablet.
The Customs Service reports
making a number of "significant seizures" of ketamine since 2000.
Under the Medicines Act it is illegal to import ketamine without good reason.
"It is very popular overseas as a drug of abuse. It is emerging in the United States and we are beginning to see it here," Customs manager of drug investigations Simon Williamson said.
"It is coming in predominantly from China and Asia, and it is synonymous with the night club scene, as a drug of abuse."
Ketamine is considered one of a "date rape" trio of drugs that includes rohypnol and GHB, or fantasy. "[Ketamine] renders a lot of users not able to defend themselves against attack," Mr Williamson said. "It was originally a veterinary anaesthetic."
Detective Inspector Gary Knowles, of the police national drug intelligence section, said ketamine was one of the drugs "that for some reason has become popular again".
One of the biggest difficulties for law enforcement was that it could be quickly flushed out of the body after being ingested, he said.
Christchurch's Sexual Abuse Survivors Trust reports it is dealing with a growing number of people, through its Safecare service, who have been violated while under the influence of some sort of drug. Trust manager Ali Cooper said, "We are seeing more and more people, especially young people, who believe they have been drugged and don't remember what has happened to them, and they know they haven't had too much to drink."
- NZPA
