international news _ Jonty Skrufff _ 7th June 2005

K No Longer OK In The UK

British authorities are planning to criminalise ketamine (K), the Guardian reported this week, after completing a consultation paper on controlling the currently prescription only (legal) anaesthetic.

The government's decision to outlaw K comes 8 years after America adopted similar laws, which Skrufff's man-in New York Larry Tee, a then heavy user of the disassociative anaesthetic, said had unexpected and tragic consequences.

"When the authorities clamped down on K a lot of my friends turned to heroin and one by one they started to die," Larry told Skrufff in an earlier interview.

"One friend OD-ed on heroin and died right in my apartment then another fell out of an 8 story building when he was on coke. That happened just when I got clean- I saw the writing on the wall and I cleaned up with the help of Narcotics Anonymous."

However, the electroclash pioneer was the first to admit he was unable to control his use of the ultra-powerful drug, after developing a taste for it on New York's club kid scene.

"Ketamine became such an integral part of my existence that I couldn't imagine doing a day without drugs, it didn't seem like an option," he admitted.

"I remember telling friends who were concerned about me at the time, not to worry, describing how (putting on a squeaky voice), 'We're all really creatures from another planet who are trapped in these boxes and that's why we're so unhappy'. I did it over and over again, especially when I was living above Twilo. I ended up doing K every day for over two years," said Larry. "Cleaning up with Narcotics Anonymous was the best thing that happened to me."

http://www.maps.org/kdreams (Dr Karl Jansen: 'People crave it, do big binges, then stop for a while in a very similar pattern to what happens with cocaine. It's generally regarded as a drug which has caused quite a few people who've never had a problem with any kind of drug before, to suddenly have a problem . . .', Dr Jansen's book 'Ketamine: Dreams and Realities' is available here at $US14.95)

(Jonty Skrufff/Skrufff.com)