Penalties for taking ketamine as a party drug could be increased after use surged to record levels.
Home Office ministers have asked an expert panel to look at whether the anaesthetic should be upgraded from a Class B drug to Class A – the same as heroin, crack and cocaine.
In the year ending March 2023, an official study showed 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 admitted they had used the substance during the previous 12 months.
It was up from 117,000 a decade earlier and the highest level yet seen.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) asking whether ketamine’s classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act should be raised.
Dame Diana said: ‘Ketamine is an extremely dangerous substance and the recent rise in its use is deeply concerning.
‘It is vital we are responding to all the latest evidence and advice to ensure people’s safety and we will carefully consider the ACMD’s recommendations before making any decision.’
The move comes after a coroner wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in November calling for action over the drug’s classification following a man’s death.
Penalties for taking ketamine as a party drug could be increased after use surged to record levels
Greater Manchester South senior coroner Alison Mutch found that James Boland, 38, from Manchester, had died of sepsis caused by a kidney infection that was ‘a complication of long-term use of ketamine’.
In a prevention of future deaths report, she said keeping ketamine as Class B would be ‘likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is ‘safer’.
The Home Office also cited recent reports suggesting the substance is often found in so-called ‘pink cocaine’, a dangerous synthetic cocktail of drugs.
Dealing ketamine currently carries up to 14 years’ imprisonment, while possession carries up to five years.
Raising it to Class A would increase those penalties to life for dealing and seven years for possession.
Ketamine, known as ‘K’ or ‘Special K’, comes as a powder and is usually snorted.
It can lead to a relaxed and dream-like sensation, but taking too much can cause temporarily paralysis in what users term a ‘k-hole’.
The drug can be fatal especially when mixed with other drugs or alcohol, and can lead to heart problems and hallucinations.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson (pictured) will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) asking whether ketamine’s classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act should be raised
Longer-term use can lead to memory loss, mental health problems and organ damage.
Ketamine abuse has grown massively in the last 15 to 20 years.
The drug was upgraded from Class C to Class B just a decade ago, but now ministers believe even tougher measures may be needed to discourage its use.
The number of 16- to 59-year-olds in England and Wales who reported ever having used ketamine rose from 837,000 in 2014-15 to 1.27million in 2023-24, according to Office for National Statistics data.
Over the same period the number who admitted using the drug within the previous month rose from 26,000 to 118,000.
Among young people aged 16 to 24 the proportion who reported ever taking ketamine jumped from 2.3 per cent in 2006-07 to 6.5 per cent in 2023-24.
