Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault
The Drugs
Ketamine
WHAT IS IT?
- Street names: "Special K", "Kit Kat", "Vitamin K", "K", "Elephant Tranquilizer"
- White crystals, powder or clear, colourless liquid - oral, snorted or injected
- Legally manufactured
- Highly addictive anaesthetic and analgesic - (IV or IM)
- Ketamine is still used in veterinary medicine and sedation of children
- Brand names: KetalarŪ or Ketaset
- Short-acting
- Often being packaged and sold as "Ecstasy"
- Vial costs $10 to $15, enough for 2 to 3 hour high
- Difficult to obtain and still considered rare in Canada
- Recently deemed an analogue of phencyclidine (PCP), and therefore a Schedule I narcotic in Canada
EFFECTS
- No safe levels
- Hypnotic, dissociative state - "out of body"
- Nystagmus
- increased tone
- purposeful movements
- Amnesia and analgesia (inability to feel pain)
- Hallucinations
- Highly addictive
ADVERSE EVENTS
- Apnea, emesis, aspiration
- Harm: Physical injuries due to dissociative state and loss of physical control
- Toxicity: - seldom: emesis, aspiration, LOC, respiratory depression & catatonia
KETAMINE, GHB and FLUNITRAZEPAM SUMMARY
- No safe levels, risk of contamination
- Alcohol potentiates effect
- Risk of physical injury
- Risk of aspiration
- Risk of drug-facilitated sexual assault
Last Modified: September 5, 2006
