What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is a drug that is used to render a patient unconscious and is also prescribed to treat depression situations. But how and to what extent does its addiction damage the human brain?
Medical Uses of Ketamine
Ketamine, is used operation theatres to anesthetize patient for surgery. First approve for clinical trials in 1960.
it is used to reduce pain, restore breathing and provide immediate relief in the major injury.
In 2019, the US Food and Drug Administration officially approve ketamine for the treatment of depression. As a commercial pharmaceutical product, this form of ketamine is called S-ketamine, IT is sprayed into the nose.
All uses of this drug, other than for surgery or for depression, are illegal worldwide. A prescription is required to purchase it to prevent it from being misused for the production of narcotics.
Elon Musk and Ketamine Usage
Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X and one of the richest people in the world.
Also close confidant of US President Donald Trump.
Musk slurred his words several times during the Conservative Political Action Conference in February this year.
Asked some seemingly absurd and irrelevant questions to attendees.
Questions were also raised on social media regarding this unusual behavior. The use of an overdose of drug.
Elon Musk has been using for a long time and last year he told the American broadcaster CNN in an interview. His doctors have recommended using this every other week to control depression.
In this regard, Dr. Paul Cadwell, a scientist affiliated with the Royal College of Psychiatry in the United Kingdom, later told the Science Media Center that the use of ketamine is not recommended for patients with the symptoms of depression that Elon Musk describes.
Is ketamine a medicine or a drug?
Expert Opinion
Dr. Faryal Hassan, clinical psychiatrist in Pakistan, is treats patients with drug addiction. he told DW that ketamine is actually a dissociative drug, which is usually used to make patients unconscious or as a painkiller.
He said that the effect of the drug lasts for about an hour, during which the patient disconnected from their consciousness and thoughts. This is why different subtypes or versions of ketamine are also used for addiction.
Refractory depression
he says that is only prescribed to patients with depression for whom other antidepressants are not proving effective. Such a condition of patients is called ‘treatment refractory depression’ in medical terminology. The adverse effects of ketamine on the health of such patients are regularly recorded by their medical practitioners and for this reason, this treatment proves to be quite expensive.
According to Dr. Faryal Hassan, “If it is used several times a week without consulting a specialist, it directly affects the brain. Symptoms such as memory loss, delusions and negative thoughts have been noted in such individuals, while some people even start to consider themselves overly important and special.”
Ketamine Use in Pakistan
Injecting drug users in Pakistan commonly use ketamine, It is cheaper than other drugs and available at general medical stores. According to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, it is not manufacture in Pakistan but is imported from other countries, and permits are issued to specific companies based on quotas.
Regulatory Status
According to Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority, it remove ketamine from its list of “controlled items” in 2020, but then added it back to the list the following year.
Discussing ketamine smuggling incidents in Pakistan,
Dr. Faryal Hassan stated:, “In 2022, the Anti-Narcotics Force seized such a large amount of smuggled ketamine from Karachi Airport, which was estimated to be worth more than Rs 34 billion in the international market. The government should completely stop the smuggling of this drug into the country and ensure prevention of its use for addiction.”
