Record amounts of ketamine were seized by police and border forces in the UK in the year to March 2022, rising by nearly 900 per cent from 208kg to 1,837kg.
The usage is also on the rise, with one in 20 young people admitting to having taken ketamine, according to TimeOut.
While ketamine has a two decades-long history as part of rave and clubbing culture, its usage has significantly changed since the pandemic.
It used to be used as a drug to take at the end of a night out, but because during lockdown, people were looking for mind-altering experiences that were not an “upper,” they turned to the tranquilizing effects of ketamine, an expert claimed.