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Ketamine

News & Research:

• Changing the channel: Study sheds new light on a promising antidepressant - Science Daily, 6/7/22 - "Even though depression is on the rise in developed countries, taking a heavy toll in terms of human suffering and economic loss, there have been no major breakthroughs in the treatment of depression since the 1987 approval of the most famous antidepressant of all time, Prozac. Meanwhile, existing drugs bring no relief to about a third of depressed patients. Even when the drugs do work, they take four to eight weeks to take effect, a delay that can prove fatal in suicidal cases. That's precisely the reason for much of the excitement over ketamine-based therapies: They make people feel better within hours. Their antidepressant action then lasts for days after the drug itself has cleared from the body. Evidently, it's the body's response to ketamine, rather than ketamine itself, that produces the desired effect, but the nature of this response has until now been unclear."
• Ketamine Therapy Is Going Mainstream. Are We Ready? - New Yorker, 12/29/21 - "Ketamine is generally considered safe when used at sufficient intervals, but, when snorted or injected daily for long periods of time, it can cause increased tolerance, cravings, withdrawal, and permanent urinary-tract and kidney damage. It may also affect long- and short-term memory. “You do see these sort of unique personalities that are inclined to it,” Ben Medrano, of Field Trip Health, told me, of the risks of ketamine addiction. “Like, John C. Lilly was an astrophysicist who studied dolphins.” But Medrano was insistent that it’s only “a subset of people who are prone to it.” The government classifies ketamine’s abuse potential as moderate to low. Still, the risk of overuse has long been acknowledged in underground circles. In “The Essential Psychedelic Guide,” published in 1994, the researcher D. M. Turner writes, “A fairly large percentage of those who try Ketamine will consume it non-stop until their supply is exhausted. I’ve seen this in friends I’ve known for many years who are regular psychedelic users and have never before had problems controlling their drug consumption.” Turner died in a bathtub on New Year’s Eve in 1996, apparently having drowned after injecting himself with ketamine"