Date rape drug ketamine

Ketamine has a variety of properties and produces a number of effects that make it an increasingly popular date rape drug. These properties and effects are as follows ... 

Calvin Stevens developed ketamine while working at Parke-Davis in 1961. It is used as a veterinary and human anesthetic, and is a Schedule 111 drug. It was widely used as a field anesthetic in the Vietnam War, and it entered the rave scene in the early 1990s. Ketamine has been used as a date rape drug. Street names include baby food, cat Valium, honey oil, jet, K, keets, ket, special K, super acid, super C, and vitamin K (Figure 10.1). Trade names are Ketalar , Ketajet , and Ketaset . 

Figure 1.1 The easiest place that a perpetrator can begin to carry out a date rape is at a crowded party or bar. An unsuspecting victim can easily have a drug slipped into his or her drink. The Date Rape Drug Spotter is a cardboard drink coaster that can identify two of the most popular date rape drugs gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and ketamine.

Ketamine is a compound with a molecular structure similar to that of phencyclidine (Figure 4.2). The pharmaceutical versions of ketamine are clear, colorless liquids available in varying concentrations of 10,50, and 100 milligram/milliliter solutions (Figure 4.3). Many recreational users inject this liquid intramuscularly or intravenously. It is the liquid formulation that is used as a date rape drug. Liquid ketamine, which is clear and colorless, can easily be slipped into a drink without being detected. 

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... 

Ketamine is used legally as an anesthetic, usually by veterinarians. Yet, it has become a popular illegal drug at raves. It can be injected, smoked, or snorted. Ketamine is yet another club drug that is a notorious date rape drug. Like GHB and Rohypnol, it is often slipped into a person s drink by a sexual predator. 

Called the "Drink Detective," it is a matchbox-sized drink testing kit that can detect three of the most common date rape drugs that sexual predators slip into drinks GHB, ketamine, and Rohypnol. The kit contains test pads for each of the three drugs, as well as pipettes for applying drops of a drink to the pads. For the first time, people going to bars, raves, or clubs could test their drinks for date rape drugs. 

Ketamine is also widely used by sexual predators as a date rape drug. Like Rohypnol and GHB, ketamine can cause a person to lose consciousness. In either its liquid or powdered form, it can be slipped easily into a victim s drink. 

KETAMINE An anesthetic abused for its mind-altering effects that is popular as an illicit club drug. It is sometimes used to facilitate sexual assault, or date rape. 

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