VA approves limited use of KETAMINE, DOH!

[GeekySquid]

I am not sure where to post this but @Tbird can move if necessary.

NY Times is reporting today that the VA has reached a deal to provide a Ketamine based drug to "try" and limit veterans suicide.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/health/ketamine-depression-veterans.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_190624?campaign_id=2&instance_id=10416&segment_id=14586&user_id=2e7a35dddb0c78bd274675baec1870f9&regi_id=718414120624

Ketamine was made first as an anesthetic but because it is so easy to make, it morphed into a Party Drug known as Special K and has killed thousands and made thousands more vegetables.

Ketamine causes hallucinations, and not always the fun kind.

Special K users can and frequently do, experience what is known as going down a K-Hole and that is a bad thing...a real bad thing.

I applaud all efforts to prevent veteran suicide, but this may be a step too far.

The outcomes are unknown, but if you know a vet who gets this, monitor them. The potential for abuse and ease of getting the street version are too high and we might end up making more addicts than preventing suicides.

 

[Vync]

Most of the deaths attributed to it are from overdoses, sometimes when mixed with other drugs or alcohol. The amount of Ketalar given medically is 25% or less than what the clubbers take to get zonked.

[GeekySquid]

31 minutes ago, Vync said:

Most of the deaths attributed to it are from overdoses, sometimes when mixed with other drugs or alcohol. The amount of Ketalar given medically is 25% or less than what the clubbers take to get zonked.

while all of that is correct, the problem is that Special K is easily obtained, and anyone with an addictive personality might, just might, get to like it and self-medicate.

I cannot count the number of people I know who have jumped down a K-hole and never fully returned.

[Vync]

5 minutes ago, GeekySquid said:

while all of that is correct, the problem is that Special K is easily obtained, and anyone with an addictive personality might, just might, get to like it and self-medicate.

I cannot count the number of people I know who have jumped down a K-hole and never fully returned.

Yeah, it's potent stuff, but so is cocaine which has limited use in the medical community as an anesthetic and vasoconstrictor. Sounds scary, but it's happening.

[GeekySquid]

5 minutes ago, Vync said:

Sounds scary, but it's happening.

that was my  point. Too many addictive drugs easily available and now Ketamine.... Things work fine when used as prescribed and monitored.....and then they don't. ....