A study on ketamine use among first-time offenders found a high rate of recidivism and excess mortality, the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) said on Monday, as it advised young people to avoid recreational use of the drug.
Ketamine, a category 3 narcotic developed as an anesthetic, is popular within the clubbing scene for its hallucinogenic effects, but high doses can cause an extreme dissociative state known colloquially as a “K-hole.”
To better understand ketamine use in Taiwan, the institute collaborated with researchers from National Taiwan University and National Taipei University to analyze anonymized data on 39,178 first-time ketamine offenders from 2009 to 2016.
The findings suggest a 33.85 percent chance of reoffending within three years, NHRI Center for Neuropsychiatric Research director Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅) said.
Among those who have used more serious category 1 or 2 narcotics, the rate increases to 39.52 percent, he added.
The data also indicate that ketamine users are 4.9 times more likely to die within three years of their first offense than their peers of the same age and gender, Chen said.
Although ketamine users were only 2.1 times more likely than their peers to die of natural causes, they were 7.6 times more likely to die of unnatural causes, such as suicide (13.4 times more likely), drug overdose (21.3 times) and violence (20.7 times), Chen said.
The findings were particularly dire for female users, who were 19 times more likely to die within three years of their first offense and 31.4 times more likely to commit suicide than their peers, he added.
“These findings clearly indicate that recreational use of ketamine among young people not only leads to repeated use, but also greatly increases the incidence of death, especially of unnatural causes,” Chen said, calling on curious young people to stay away from the drug.
The findings were published on Nov. 16 in the international journal Addiction.
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