Rave Drug Offers Surprising Medical Hope

Health

In 1962, researchers discovered a new drug designed to help with anesthesia. The drug was named ketamine. Two years later, it was first tested on humans and was later approved for use on people here in the US in 1970. It proved to be a valuable tool for military medics during the Vietnam War.

Ketamine causes a person to enter a trance-like state where they feel no pain. While under the effects of controlled ketamine, the subject also experienced memory loss. This sedation and memory loss led the use of ketamine for recreational uses like raves and even for date rape. This use of ketamine has led to names for the drug such as ‘K-Hole’, ‘Special K’, ‘out of body’ and ‘near-death’.

It comes both in powder and liquid form and can easily be added to foods and drinks without anyone being aware of it. The sedative impact of ketamine begins within minutes and usually only lasts a short time, but long enough to allow for the rape of an unsuspecting victim, who will wake up without remembering what happened to them. This is why ketamine was placed on the list of controlled substances in 1999.

Over the years, ketamine was found to help some people who suffered from severe forms of depression, but the drug also has some alarming side effects which include increasing heart rate and blood pressure, along with amnesia, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, numbness, depression and even fatal respiratory problems.

With all of the dangers and reputation of ketamine, new research has revealed that this powerful drug may be just the ticket to helping to treat heavy drinkers, as reported:

A new study has found that the drug — also known as Special K — can help heavy drinkers cut back dramatically on alcohol.

Just a single dose, when combined with some mental exercises, lowers booze use by “rewriting” the memories of drinking that make alcoholics drink too much, said the study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

A group of British researchers looked at 90 beer lovers “with hazardous/harmful drinking patterns” who were known to down roughly 30 pints a week.

Participants were first given a glass of beer and told they could drink it after looking at and rating a series of images of other beverages, such as orange juice, beer, wine and soft drinks.

The researchers then gave some of the people a small dose of ketamine, which is known to have an effect on people’s memories.

By day 10 of the study, the people who were given ketamine combined with memory therapy saw reductions in their urge to drink and drank less alcohol.

Those given the ketamine halved their weekly alcohol consumption over nine months, the study said. Researchers said this could completely change the way alcohol treatment is conducted…

While ketamine does have some concerning side effects, the benefits it could provide to heavy drinkers could far outweigh those side effects. Reducing their consumption of alcohol could help avoid many serious alcohol causing health conditions and illnesses. This will help save lives, save millions of dollars and more importantly, could help save many marriages and families.

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