Pubdate: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 Source: Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) Copyright: 2002 The Herald-Sun Contact: http://www.herald-sun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428 Author: Susan Broili Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs) COUNSELOR: KETAMINE A STUDENT PARTY DRUG CHAPEL HILL -- Ketamine, an animal tranquilizer stolen recently from a Carrboro animal hospital, is being used as a "party drug" among high school and college students here, a UNC health official said. Obtaining ketamine was the motive of three break-ins at the Animal Hospital in Carrboro. Earlier this week, police charged two men with those break-ins. But investigators haven't confirmed what the men intended to do with the drug, Carrboro Police Lt. Jim Phillips said Wednesday. "Certainly, I hear about it. ... I have met with students who have used ketamine," said Dee Dee Laurilliard, a substance abuse counselor at UNC's Center for Healthy Student Behaviors. The number of UNC students who use the drug cannot be determined, partly because the university's drug survey does not specifically ask about the drug but includes it in a group of drugs, Laurilliard said. Every two years, the Center for Healthy Student Behaviors randomly distributes the "Core Alcohol and Other Drug Surveys" to 1,500 students, she said. Laurilliard said she includes information about ketamine in the substance abuse lectures she gives to UNC students and to community groups. At one of those community talks, a local high school student told how when she took the drug at a dance, everyone appeared to her as if they had been beheaded, Laurilliard said. "Ketamine hydrochloride, or 'Special K' is a powerful hallucinogen that can result in profound physical and mental problems, including delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function and potentially fatal respiratory problems," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It was designated a controlled substance in 1999. "One of the appeals to using the drug is the near-death experience," Laurilliard said. The drug blocks brain receptors and causes visions and dreams as well as lower oxygen and blood sugar levels and slower breathing, Laurilliard said. But it can also cause death, usually due to respiratory depression, Laurilliard said. Anyone who takes the drug should seek help, Laurilliard said. And people who become unconscious after taking it should be rushed by ambulance to an emergency room, Laurilliard said. "You just have to get somebody there as fast as possible," Laurilliard said. The drug can also cause permanent brain damage, she said. "Ketamine is considered to be one of the 'date rape' drugs, substances that can be slipped into a person's drink to render him or her unconscious," according to the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. While Phillips acknowledged the drug's potential as a date rape drug, he said he did not know of any such cases in Carrboro or the area. Laurilliard said another drug, GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate) is suspected of having been used locally as a date rape drug. A month ago, police charged a UNC freshman with felony possession of liquid gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), which when taken orally, is converted in the body to GHB. At UNC, there have been no confirmed cases of rape associated with GBL or GHB, but female students have occasionally reported unexplained memory loss and suspected that someone had slipped them a drug in food or drink, UNC officials have said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth