Teens risking lifelong illness as use of ’cost of living drug’ surges on the streets
Ketamine is being used by schoolchildren as young as 14, it has been warned, with teenagers ending up have to use colostomy bags for life because of the effects of the drug on their bladder
Teens as young as 14 are getting hooked on ketamine and risk devastating their health - as one former user told the Mirror of the lasting damage caused to her body from the cheap party drug.
Youths are said to be turning to the Class B party drug to cope with the "despair of mental illness", but in the worst cases are developing severe addictions that mean they no longer have functioning bladders. The substance, invented as a horse tranquiliser, is now even being labelled the ’cost of living drug’, as it is often cheaper to buy than alcohol.
According to the latest Government figures, ketamine use has more than doubled in England and Wales since 2016. Among under 25s, it has more than tripled.
Pastor Mick Fleming runs Church on the Street, a charity and community hub based in Burnley. One part of his job is overseeing the Exodus Project, a 12-week recovery programme aimed at lifting people out of addiction issues and helping them cope with complex trauma. His on-the-ground experience has given him a deep insight into the worrying drug-taking habits of some young people.
Pastor Mick Fleming pictured with Danielle, who turned to the Church on the Street as she battled her addiction ( Image: Mick Fleming)
Mick has warned that ketamine has become the new ’gateway drug’, and is now being used by schoolchildren. He told the Mirror: “We know people that are 14, 15 and 16 that use ketamine. Ketamine’s become the new gateway drug - it used to be cannabis, but now it’s ketamine. I call ketamine the pocket money drug because it’s young people and you buy it for £10 a gram. So for £3 each, more or less, you can buy a gram, you can share it and the effects are I hesitate to use the word better, but more potent, shall we say, than alcohol. So, and you can go home and your parents won’t know. So it’s cheap, that’s the first thing.
“But also what it does as drug. It takes you out of your body, but it takes you out of your environment as well. So it’s really appealing to young people. It’s almost like you’re in a video game and young people’s brains are more readily to accept that kind of effect, you know, because of the amount of technology that they’re accustomed to and using.”
The lasting health effects for people who develop ketamine habits can be devastating, including irreversible damage to the stomach, kidneys and bladder. One woman, Danielle, 30, told the Mirror that her ketamine habit began a devastating spiral into harder drug use. She said: "It’s cheap and easy. First time I had it, I thought it was a right good buzz. I went out and left my daughter at my mum’s on a weekend. I came back and it was five months later." After months of prolonged drug use she was later told that she’d suffered 50% damage to one of her kidneys, with her ketamine use singled out as a direct cause. But she considers herself "lucky" compared to others who have been hit harder by their addiction.
Both Mick and Danielle know people aged in their late teens and early 20s who have been left using colostomy bags after suffering irreversible damage to their bladder from ketamine. Danielle said: "Two of my mates have died, and another two have been left with colostomy bags. They’re a lot younger than me, some of these people with bags - I know a 16-year-old who’s had an operation."
Many people only notice there’s something wrong when they begin to see blood in their urine, as Mick explained: “It ’rots’, and they think that it’s blood clots that are coming out. They think they are passing blood, but it’s not. It’s actually the urethra inside rotting away and it affects the lining of the stomach as well. So we know quite a few people - young people - with bags”.
Mick, pictured with Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, has seen the nasty side effects of ketamine up close in his charity work ( Image: Mick Fleming)
Danielle celebration her graduation this weekend after successfully completing the Exodus recovery programme. She will then move on to a new volunteer role, helping run harm reduction centres for drug users.
Having overcome a pattern of addiction and life as a drug dealer’s enforcer in his younger years, Pastor Mick turned to assisting people in need over a decade ago - and says younger teenagers taking ketamine is a noticeably recent trend. “You didn’t see that many young people taking ketamine in 2013”, he said. “It was used by the same type of people that taking cocaine. But it’s got younger and younger and younger. Now it’s the big drug for the under 25s. They’re saying it’s like a ‘cost of living drug’ because of the price. When you compare it to other options as well, it’s cheaper than alcohol. So that drives it towards younger people, and the effects being similar to the slipping gas and balloons.”
The increased mixing in of nitazenes in street drugs over recent months also means ketamine users don’t just have to worry about long term damage. One line is now said to be enough to kill someone if enough of the powerful opioid, which is up to 50 times stronger than fentanyl, is present. He explained: “The drug world has changed in the last 18 months like never, ever, before. It’s the first time in my lifetime when I can put my hands on my heart and say any drug use can potentially cost you your life, whether that’s a line of care, whether that’s a little bit of cork, whether that’s a knee, whatever it is, and it’s because of the nitroxenes. Nitroxenes are a synthetic opiate that are being used to bash all the drugs down.
"It’s in all, it’s adulterated all the drugs. It’s not just in heroin, it is in heroin, but it’s not just in heroin. We’re finding it in street pregabs [pregabalin], finding it in street benzos, finding it in cocaine, finding it in ketamine. It has the potential to kill you." He now wants parents to educate their children that the risk of taking ketamine are greater than ever before, and that what seems like a quick, cheap thrill can result in lifelong health complications - or worse.
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