Respondents who use ketamine also reported a younger median age compared to users of other drugs, and a higher proportion reported they were students, which would help to explain why ketamine use is higher in regions with big student populations.
Overseas, the United Kingdom has dubbed young people “Generation K”, while ketamine-related deaths have risen twentyfold since 2014.
Professor Chris Wilkins, leader of the drug research team at the SHORE & Whariki Research Centre at Massey University, told The Front Page that the surveys showed a greater diversity of drugs being used each year.
“I think drugs sometimes just fit within the sign of the times. You think of cocaine in the 80s and opioids in the 70s. I think, to some extent, ketamine is consistent with, or fits in with, some of the things that are going on in the world. So, needing to disassociate from all the bad news that we’re always hearing.
“On the supply side, it’s just ramped up. Now it’s more produced within the golden triangle in Asia, and organised crime has become more involved in it, so the volume of supply has gone up.
“But ketamine has been around for a long time. It has been in the past really limited to particular subcultures or particular countries like Hong Kong ... But, increasingly, it’s become more mainstream within the dance party scene.”
Urologists in the UK have expressed concern about an increase in bladder problems (so-called “ketamine bladder”) as a result of prolonged and heavy use of the drug.
Just last week, the BBC reported a case of a 14-year-old schoolgirl who needed to wear incontinence pads to class after ketamine use damaged her bladder.
“People should be really educating themselves and understand that frequent use can be very damaging to the bladder, urinary and renal functioning,” Wilkins said.
“There’s also the psychological problems sometimes, as well, and when it’s used in combination with other depressants like alcohol, it can get very dangerous.
“Overall, it tends to be on the more dangerous side because it’s a dissociative. So it numbs pain and means that you’re not aware of your surroundings.
“People might recall that [Friends actor] Matthew Perry died from using ketamine in his spa pool, and that just illustrates the danger from accidents and harming yourself because you’re not aware of what’s going on with you, and your surroundings.”
The study also alludes to a growth in buying drugs through social media since 2020.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Falling drug prices
- The harms of ketamine
- Harm reduction
- Digitalisation of drug markets.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
