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Ketamine

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• 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"