Ketamine Abuse Trends and Statistics

Ketamine Abuse trends continues to increase throughtout the Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG) cities. 

Use of the tranquilizer ketamine ("Special K" or "vitamin K"), also available and common in the club, rave, and party scene, is increasingly reported in numerous cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore (where users are predominantly white youth from middle- and upper-socioeconomic backgrounds), Boston (where some white, middle-class youth inject it, it is used as a heroin adulterant, and it may have been involved in some overdose deaths), Chicago (where it is available in powder form), Minneapolis/St. Paul (where injecting is reported), Newark, New York City (where it is available on the street, is either snorted or injected, and is sometimes mistaken for cocaine HCl), Phoenix, San Diego, Texas, and Washington, DC. In Detroit and St. Louis, veterinary break-ins for ketamine have increased in the past year.  The trends of ketamine abuse is on the rise and is recognized as a problem throughout the city.

Information released from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2000)

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