After two years of regular ketamine use, Dan was snorting three grams on a Monday night – and urinating blood. He had started taking the drug recreationally aged 23, when he moved from the countryside into the city and found ket to be readily available all the time.
“I was introduced to it by a partner, then was taking it regularly with my flatmate and then ultimately was taking it alone daily,” he told the Standard. Ket, which is a dissociative anesthetic, worked well for Dan because it soothed his mental health. He admits to taking it as a form of “self medicating”, but says it quickly became a crutch.
