UK youth face growing ketamine addiction crisis

Mental health problems among children and adolescents are becoming an increasingly significant issue. Mental health professionals are sounding the alarm due to the rising trend of youth attempting to self-medicate with easily accessible psychoactive substances.

Depression, neurodiversity, personality disorders, and anxiety—mental health problems are more common among children, adolescents, and adults than many realise. A major problem is the long wait times for specialists, particularly in the field of mental health for minors. The wait for psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists extends for many months, even years. It's no wonder that people seeking help try to treat themselves. However, the results can be disastrous.

Mental health experts are sounding the alarm. More and more children and teenagers in the United Kingdom are turning to ketamine, a psychoactive substance classified as a dissociative psychedelic. This substance is used for anaesthesia before operations and as a painkiller in cancer treatment. Increasingly, researchers are also pointing to its psychoactive effects in treating anxiety. For decades, ketamine has also been used as a drug. The effects of the chemical substance are described as a feeling of exploring other worlds, experiencing an out-of-body sensation, a journey inward, a blurring of time, a sense of flying and floating, a feeling of contact with God, euphoria, mystical experiences; excessive salivation, and nausea.

British psychiatrists warn that the percentage of youth using ketamine without medical supervision is rising in the country. Owen Bowden-Jones, a psychiatrist and founder of the Club Drug Clinic, told "The Guardian" in an interview that the situation is serious: "I get the impression that the vast majority of people use it (ketamine - editor's note) for self-medication of emotional difficulties. This suggests to me that they have found a pharmacological shortcut to dealing with mental health." The National Health Service reports that the number of people seeking help to combat ketamine addiction has doubled between 2019 and 2023.

Owen Bowden-Jones adds that young people suffering from various traumas use ketamine as a "brilliant emotional anaesthetic." Young drug addicts turn to chemical substances due to the lack of access to good therapy. Uncontrolled use of ketamine can lead to severe addictions. Bowden-Jones warns that currently, the United Kingdom lacks psychiatrists specialising in treating addiction to this trendy drug, resulting in long wait times and prolonged treatment.