An estimated 30,000 people in Taiwan are believed to use ketamine, and long-term use of the drug can damage the kidneys, bladder and the brain’s cognitive functions, a physician said yesterday.
Stephen Yang (楊緒棣), surgeon-in-chief at Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital’s Taipei Branch, said one of his patients — a man surnamed Chen in his early 30s — began taking ketamine several years ago to reduce work-related stress, but continued use resulted in serious bladder damage.
After a year of use, Chen found himself having to urinate as many as 43 times a day, while his urine became sticky and thick with traces of blood, while his bladder shrank and became fibrotic, Yang said.
Chen underwent three surgeries over the past few years, but he was not able to quit the drug, and now his kidneys and bladder are so seriously damaged that he needs to undergo dialysis three times a week and use a bladder catheter every day.
Yang said 387 people are being treated for ketamine addiction in 12 randomly sampled hospitals nationwide, indicating that about 30,000 people are engaged in ketamine abuse based on Food and Drug Administration data last year on the rate of ketamine abuse among people aged between 12 and 64.
The data shows the rate of ketamine abuse in recent years is between 0.27 percent and 0.54 percent, while drug abuse reports from hospitals showed that ketamine is the most popular illegal drug among people under 19 years old.
“About 3,000 people with ketamine addiction suffer from serious bladder damage, with about 50 of them undergoing bladder- removal surgery,” Yang said.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
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