13th November 2024
Our work with the media - both The Times and BBC Radio 4 - has helped to raise vital awareness about the dangers associated with Ketamine use among younger people.
In Britain, addiction to ketamine has more than quadrupled since 2016, and use is estimated to have more than doubled — tripling in those under 25. There has been an increase in adults entering treatment with ketamine problems, from 1,551 in 2021-22 to 2,211 in 2022-23.
Now, experts in addiction and substance use have told the Times that ketamine abuse is soaring, with young people all over the UK seeking treatment for addiction and irreparable damage to their bladders.
Deb Casserly who appeared in our Addiction Awareness Week film last year spoke with The Times about her son Barney. For years before his death in 2018, Barney had been struggling with substance abuse, before taking his own life at the age of 21.
Barney was not struggling with an opiate dependency, cannabis or cocaine — currently three of the most common drugs causing people to seek help in Britain, according to government statistics. He was instead using ketamine, once known as a “safe” party drug, a staple of the rave scene in the nineties.“
It’s an absolute living hell, watching your child destroy themselves,”
Describing the night before Barney died, Deb told The Times “That night, we just sat on the sofa together, and he just said, mum, if this is living, I don’t want it. I tried to say all the things I know about […] you can recover, there is a way. People do get better. But he had in his head this idea that he was nothing but a burden.”
In a Radio 4 interview with Sarah Montague on her show, The World At One (13/11/24), Deb talked about the many physical issues Barney encountered with his bladder, and his inability to soothe the pain - see video clip below.
