Ketamine included in list of controlled chemicals

The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) has included ketamine, an anesthetic, in its list of "Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals (CPEC)" after becoming popular among drug abusers.

In a resolution, the DDB reclassified ketamine as a controlled drug from a prescription drug following a study conducted by the Board’s Technical Working Group and upon the recommendation of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Ketamine hydrochloride is a "non-barbiturate, rapid acting disassociative anesthetic drug used on both animals and human beings."

The drug is used for short procedures in human pediatric burns or animal wounds. It is also being used in experimental psychotherapy.

The DDB, however, said that ketamine is now being used by young people as an alternative to shabu and ecstasy, which are both prohibited in the country.

DDB Senior Undersecretary Dionisio Santiago noted that the effects of ketamine if not properly used could range from "rapture to paranoia."

"The user feels its hallucinogenic effects and experiences impaired perception and ketamine commonly elicits an out-of-body or near-death experience, it can even render the user comatose," he added.

The move to regulate ketamine was bolstered by the seizure of P2 million worth of the drug in a police raid in Quezon City recently.

In 2003, operatives of the PDEA and the Bureau of Food and Drugs also seized some 7,000 vials of liquid ketamine and one kilogram in powder form.>

The DDB maintained that in countries like Hong Kong and Singapore, ketamine taken over ecstasy as the leading substance being abused by the youths.