Ketamine in Europe

Objective: This webinar aims to provide insights into the European ketamine market and will expand on health-related harms caused by non-medical ketamine use.

Background: Ketamine (‘K’, ‘ket’, ‘keta’ or ‘special K’) is a synthetic substance with a long-established role in human and veterinary medicine as an anaesthetic and analgesic. Developed in the 1960s as a safer alternative to phencyclidine (PCP), ketamine quickly found a use in emergency medicine, trauma care and field settings requiring rapid-acting, reliable anaesthesia. Given its reliability, affordability and chemical stability, it was included in the World Health Organization (WHO) model list of essential medicines, but it is also indispensable in veterinary practice and increasingly used in the treatment of depression. In recent years, however, ketamine has become a growing presence in illicit drug markets across Europe, with rising seizures, declining prices and increasing health harms raising concerns among public health and law enforcement authorities.

This webinar presents the findings of a recent Ketamine in Europe: EMPACT situation report, examining both the European illicit market and the health risks associated with the drug’s non-medical use (see news item).

In conversation with:  

• Dr Rita Jorge, European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA);
• Dr Wouter van der Sanden, Jeroen Bosch Hospital (Netherlands).

Chairperson and opening remarks: Andrew Cunningham, Head of sector, Crime, markets and precursors, EUDA.