A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself. ~Axel Munthe
The first ever large-scale study of ketamine users has been published online in the journal Addiction. With Ketamine (K, Special K) use increasing faster than any other drug in the UK, this research shows the consequences of repeated ketamine use.
For the study, researchers from University College London followed 150 people over a year to see if changes in their ketamine use could predict changes in their psychological health, memory and concentration.
Of the 150 people, 30 were taking large quantities of the drug nearly every day, 30 were taking it ‘recreationally’ (once or twice a month), 30 were former users, 30 used illicit drugs apart from ketamine and 30 did not use any illicit drugs.
The authors of the study found that the heavy ketamine users were impaired on several measures, including verbal memory, short-term memory and visual memory decreased over the year as ketamine use increased. These people also performed worse on verbal memory, having difficulty remembering conversations and people’s names.