Ketamine trade names

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 . 

Phencyclidine, PCP, or l-(l-phenylcyclohexyl) piperidine, is an arylcyclohexamine with structural similarities to ketamine. It is a lipophilic weak base with a pKa of 8.5. Phencyclidine was originally synthesized and marketed under the trade name Semyl by Parke-Davis for use as an intravenously administered anesthetic agent in humans. Distribution began in 1963 but was discontinued in 1965 due to a high incidence (10 to 20%) of post-operative delirium and psychoses. However, its use continued as a veterinary tranquilizer for large animals until 1978, when all manufacture was prohibited and PCP was placed in Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act (1970). 

The chemical agents used by those intent on rape are CHB, short for gamma-hydroxybutyric acid,321 which is a powerful muscle relaxant, ketamine,331 which is used as an anaesthetic, and flunitrazepam,341 which is better known by its trade name Rohypnol and is a powerful antidepressant. They have a variety of street names, such as liquid X, liquid E, and cherry meth for CHB, kit-kat and special K for ketamine, while Rohypnol pills are referred to as roofies, roachies, rope, and roche351 as well as more descriptive names such as circles, forget me pills, and lunch money. These three chemicals will cause a person to become dizzy and then completely unconscious, so much so that when they finally come round many hours later they may find it impossible to recall anything that has happened to them. This amnesia seems to be a permanent loss of memory although some of the victims have flashbacks in the days following the rape. 

Ketamine is a central-acting anesthetic and analgesic. It was developed by Calvin Stevens at Parke-Davis in 1962 in an effort to synthesize a drug with fewer side effects than phencyclidine and cyclohexamine. Ketamine was originally named C1581, and was patented in 1965 and sold under the trade name Ketalar. Ketamine was officially released for human use in 1970 and was used extensively during the Vietnam War [1]. 

---