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USE OF THE DRUG
In the medical world, ketamine has been in use as an anaesthetic since the early 1960s. Precisely when Dutch recreational drug users started experimenting with the drug is more difficult to determine. The first time that laboratory analysis identi-fied ketamine on the Dutch drug market was in 1992, but the sample in question had been offered for sale as ecstasy. By 1996 ketamine was being sold under its own name. That is the first point where we can say with certainty that ketamine was available as such on the Dutch drug market.
Ketamine produces a dissociative anaesthesia. It can trigger brief but in-tense psychological disturbances, such as disorientation or vivid, often frightening dreams and hallucinations. Because of such side-effects, the use of the drug has become increasingly uncommon in clinical practice. The psychonauts, however, see their use of drugs as a voyage through the universe, and it is these very side-effects they are interested in. They regard 'stepping outside their bodies' and 'near-death experiences' as expeditions of spiritual discovery, as ways of getting to know themselves better. Some scientists in the 1980s were convinced that ke-tamine could render good services in psychotherapy. Research began to focus more and more on experiences under the influence of ketamine and on potential therapeutic applications of the drug. The stream of publications continued undimin-ished during the 1990s.
Around 1992, journalists in some countries began writing about ketamine in lifestyle magazines and other popular media, and the Dutch media followed suit several years later. Some articles focused on ketamine as a therapeutic drug, oth-ers on its role as a party drug. Although all articles carried similar warnings - 'use ketamine with caution' - the images they presented of the drug were varied. Some included anecdotes about people who reported exceedingly beautiful, spiritual ex-periences, labelling ketamine as the most psychedelic of all drugs, while others designated it as 'the new ecstasy'. Reporting on the popularity of the drug in cer-tain circles, mainly in Britain and in New York, the latter observers prophesied a metamorphosis in the dance culture, whereby frenzied dancers would be super-seded by comatose youngsters sprawled across the dance floor.
The picture put forward in the media does not tally with the experiences of the ketamine users we interviewed. For one thing, most users were disappointed the first time they used the drug. They had expected a more intense high. Almost all insisted they could easily keep their ketamine use under control and that they took the drug infrequently. Most had never been completely knocked out by the drug.
Interestingly, one quarter of the Dutch users had first heard of ketamine not in the Netherlands but abroad. A similar number had read about it in books, and the rest had heard stories from friends. Such information had left them with a rather varied picture, ranging from 'heavy tripping junk' that you need to watch out for to 'a drug nicer than ecstasy' or 'a key to understanding life's purpose'.
The first time most respondents had taken the drug was more by chance than by intention. In other words, almost all received their first ketamine without asking for it. Fewer than half made any special preparations for taking it. Most did have someone to stay with them while they were tripping, as advised by articles in lifestyle magazines and on the Internet. Only one user we interviewed had been alone during his first ketamine session. The most commonly reported experiences in the first trip were, in order of frequency, changes in gravity, psychedelic experi-ences, and dissociation (separation of body and mind). To most respondents, the first experience did not live up to their expectations, if indeed they had any expec-tations beforehand. Some had expected the trip to be more psychedelic, more in-tense or more scary. One had expected something more resembling the ecstasy high.
Most respondents reported having no real pattern of use, and that their use of the drug was irregular in any case. One reason for the absence of any clear pat-tern of use is that ketamine is not continually available. Unlike the first time they used ketamine, users did take more precautionary measures as their ketamine careers continued. What measures these were depended on their mode of ad-ministration, the set and the setting. The four users who tried injecting ketamine after the first time they had sniffed it obviously had to ensure they had clean nee-dles. Sniffers also made certain preparations. In both cases, being in a familiar, trusted environment with friends was usually of prime importance. Another thing that changed as people consumed ketamine longer was that they developed pref-erences for certain settings and for certain people to share the experience with. Even so, most respondents had taken ketamine both at home and away from home. Some expressed a preference for either a home or an open-air setting. One advantage of the latter was the unparalleled feeling of freedom this reportedly gave them. Ketamine users from the party circuit, especially those from the tekno scene, preferred taking the drug at a party or club.
Amongst their friends, most ketamine users made no secret of the fact that they took the drug. Friends generally showed a relaxed curiosity about ketamine. They probably had the impression that most ketamine users have their involve-ment with the drug under control.
Evidently ketamine is a multifunctional drug. Doctors use it as an anaes-thetic for small children and for animals, and some therapists experiment with it in treating their clients. Other people experience the ketamine high in their own living rooms or at parties and clubs. Thus, ketamine is now making history not only as an anaesthetic and therapeutic substance, but as a recreational drug as well. That is how it is characterised in Hellinga and Plomp's Uit je bol ('Out of Your Head'), a Dutch drugs guide popular in certain subcultures. As representatives of the 'psy-chedelic revolution', the authors focus in particular on the psychedelic effects of drugs, and they are keenly interested in the use of drugs as a voyage through the universe. This leads them to refer to drug users as 'psychonauts'.
Psychonauts, however, do not appear to constitute the largest group amongst the ketamine users. The use of the drug is probably greater amongst par-tygoers, who have different reasons for taking it than the psychonauts do. They also administer it differently - we found not a single user from the party scene who injected ketamine, a technique more common among psychonauts.
THE HIGH
What kind of high people experience when they take ketamine obviously depends on the dosage they ingest and the way they ingest it. Generally speaking, keta-mine takes effect slightly faster when injected than when sniffed, but even when it is sniffed the first effects are likely to appear within five minutes' time. The high lasts from 30 to 60 minutes, and the user normally has no hangover the next day. Although the effects spontaneously reported by ketamine users tended to vary, one common element was that they found it difficult or impossible to move their bodies. Notably, our respondents seldom spontaneously mentioned experiences like 'near-death' or 'seeing the light' as described in the literature. To an extent, this is probably a question of dosage. The injectors we spoke to normally limited themselves to 100 mg per trip, except for one person who was ultimately injecting 250 mg several times daily. Although sniffers generally took doses of 50 mg at a time, they often did so several times in succession ('stacking') during a single ses-sion, so that the total could mount to half a gram. Stacking appears to have little effect on the nature of the high, but it does make the high last longer.
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