Ketamine Cocaine

Taube, H.D. Montel, H. Hau, G. and Starke, K. Phencyclidine and ketamine Comparison with the effect of cocaine on the noradrenergic neurones of the rat brain cortex. Naunvn Schmi edeberas Pharmacol 294 47-54, 1975. 

Physical effects of high doses of ketamine include decreased respiration and heart rate, increased blood pressure, and the possibility of vomiting and convulsions. These can lead to cardiac and respiratory arrest, coma, and death. The risk of ketamine overdose is much greater when it is mixed with other drugs such as alcohol, Ecstasy, caffeine, or cocaine. Overdoses of ketamine have been reported when people boost the drug (take another dose before the first dose wears off) to prolong its psychedelic effects. 

Ketamine is often taken with other drugs, such as cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, and Ecstasy, which greatly increases the risk for overdose. Ketamine tends to be taken by people with a history of experimenting with numerous other drugs. Ketamine is also occasionally taken by physicians and veterinarians, who have easy access to the drug and want to experiment with its psychedelic effects. 

Drugs used recreationally - LSD, MDMA, phencyclidine, ketamine, cannabis, volatile solvents, opioids, cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, anticholinergics. 

Figure 10.1 Drug enforcement agents in the Phillipines surround confiscated bags and vials of ketamine after an apartment raid in May 2005. The drugs had an estimated street value of 150,000 U.S. dollars. In powdered form, ketamine has an appearance similar to cocaine but a vastly different pharmacology.

In some cities, Ecstasy is sold alone. In others, such as Baltimore, Denver, Miami, Portland, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., it is sold alongside GHB, ketamine, LSD, marijuana, methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack, or other pills. 

Ketamine is almost never taken alone in a club environment. It is frequently mixed with a stimulant like cocaine or methamphetamine and taken simultaneously (commonly called trail mix ). Because its effects are relatively short-lived compared with drugs like MDMA, it is often used as a booster, or a secondary substance, that draws out desired pleasurable effects of the primary drug. 

Given the popularity of marijuana, LSD, mescaline, cocaine, and heroin, the use of ketamine in the 1970s and 1980s remained largely confined to either experimental therapeutic use, or what has been described by author Jay Stevens as the neuro-consciousness frontier, a small group of accredited and unaccredited individuals who experimented with the effects of hallucinogenic substances. 

The report says that the most vulnerable group of users to ketamine overdose are those who take it under the illusion they are taking MDMA or some other stimulant drug. Someone expecting to take MDMA, cocaine, or amphetamine, for instance, may find themselves on a roadway behind the wheel of a car being affected instead by sudden physical incapacity. 

Injecting ketamine intramuscularly carries with it risks common to cocaine and heroin addicts and other injection-drug users. Sharing needles can lead to the transmission of blood-borne viral infections such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, as well as increased risk of escalation of drug use and overdose. 

Penalties for possession of Schedule I and II drugs (methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, PCP, LSD, and marijuana among others) are far more severe than are the penalties for possession of Schedule III drugs, but they should not be dismissed entirely. Federal sentencing guidelines for possession of ketamine, regardless of the quantity, stipulate prison terms of not more than five years and individual fines of not more than 250,000. Second time offenders will almost certainly earn jail time, with a sentence determined by the judge but not to exceed 10 years. The fine is also doubled, to 500,000. 

See also Benzodiazepine Cocaine Ecstasy (MDMA) Heroin Ketamine LSD Marijuana Methaqualone Methamphetamine... 

Ketamine hydrochloride (Ketalar) is primarily used as an animal tranquilizer. When humans use the drug in a nonmedical setting, ketamine can cause hallucinations, amnesia, and dissociation. It is often used with other drugs such as ecstasy, heroin, or cocaine. Due to widespread abuse by young people, the DEA classified this drug as a Schedule III controlled substance in 1999. 

Phencyclidine has been favoured as an illicit drug of abuse for some 20 years, but such a use appears to have declined recently owing to the availability of relatively inexpensive cocaine. The drug has the street names of "PCP", "angel dust and "crystal". The structures of phencyclidine and ketamine are shown in Figure 15.7. 

A different application of SPE which needs 100-200 pi of sample has recently been successfully applied to plasma. Micro SPE (pSPE) followed by HPLC-MS/ MS was used by Napoletano et al. [67] to determinate amphetamine, methamphet-amine, MDA, MDE, MDMA, cocaine, BEG, mescaline, ketamine, PCP, psilocy-bine in plasma. In this method 180 pi of plasma were submitted to slight PPT with 20 pi of methanol containing ISTD, 100 pi of supernatant were then collected and passed through C18 tips, adapted to automatic pipettes. Validation results showed pSPE allows to reduce matrix effect (<10 %) keeping satisfactory recoveries. pSPE represent a simple, fast and reliable procedure with extremely reduced solvent consumption it will be discussed in more detail below in its other applications. 

Miyaguchi H, Inoue H (2011) Determination of amphetamine-type stimulants, cocaine and ketamine in human hair by liquid chromatography/linear ion trap-Orbitrap hybrid mass spectrometry. Analyst 136(17) 3503—3511. doi 10.1039/c0an00850h... 

Alcohol is just one of many drugs used to facilitate rape. Others include marijuana, cocaine, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, chloral hydrate, methaqualone ( quaaludes ), heroin, morphine, and LSD. Three of the more commonly used drugs today—and the ones that are the focus of this book—are Rohypnol, gamma hydroxybutyrate ( GHB ), and ketamine. Though Rohypnol and GHB were initially used as recreational drugs at clubs and raves, word soon spread among American youth that these drugs could be used quite effectively to commit rape. 

In its powdered form, ketamine is often mistaken for cocaine or crystal methamphetamine. Reports also indicate that ketamine is sometimes sold as Ecstasy (MDMA) and mixed with other drugs. In all its forms, ketamine is usually sold for 25 to 50 per gram.52... 

There have been a number of cases involving rapes facilitated by drugs other than the date rape drugs Rohypnol, GHB, and ketamine. In these cases, the defendants used drugs that were readily available, including codeine, cocaine, glue, sleeping... 

Antidepressants (especially venlafaxine), bromocriptine, buspirone, carbamazepine, clozapine, desfulrane, ketamine, metoclopramide Clonidine//J-blocker combination Pheochromocytoma /J-blocker without a-blocker first Street Drugs and Other Natural Products Cocaine and cocaine withdrawal ... 

---