Ketamine: A popular recreational drug: Review [Ketamin: Popüler bir keyif verici i·laç]

Abstract

Ketamine is an anaesthetic agent, characterised by rapid onset of action with profound analgesic and moderate hypnotic properties. Today, the pharmacological use of ketamine is limited. However, because of its hallucinogenic effects, ketamine began to be abused soon after its introduction into clinical use and in recent years its illicit use has tended to increase. Ketamine HCl is a white, crystalline powder, having a slight, characteristic odor. The tasteless, colorless and nearly odorless characteristics of ketamine have made it an increasingly common illicit drug. In humans, ketamine is metabolised into norketamine, the pharmacologically active metabolite, and dehydronorketamine by the liver cytochrome P-450 enzyme system. The pharmacodynamic mechanism of ketamine is complex. The substance interacts with numerous receptors in the brain including N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), opioid, muscarinic, cholinergic and nicotinic receptors. In acute use, sub-anaesthetic doses of ketamine produces schizophrenic-like and dissociative symptoms and impairs cognitive function. Both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia are observed in ketamine-induced psychosis. The drug is abused primarily by young people who frequent dance and rave parties and is popular among some gay and bisexual men. The acute effects induced by ketamine generally last 15-45 minutes after drug administration. It is often used in combination with other drugs. Little is known about the chronic effects of the agent. Ketamine leads to development of dependence in a manner resembling cocaine dependence. Copyright © 2005 by Türkiye Klinikleri.