Special K - Hope in a Horse Tranquiliser (4ZZZ, Brisbane)

By Saskia Edwards

When I would ask people about ketamine, for those who knew about
it, a few ideas were evoked: an animal sedative, a hallucinogenic
party drug or an anaesthetic for children. But when I mentioned
ketamine to people rarely did anyone think of it as a treatment for
depression. However, right now in clinics across Australia ketamine
is being developed as a way of tackling mental illness.

Hundreds of people have tried the treatment, with researchers
reporting a more than 60 per cent success rate. The drug is almost
side-effect free as well, while regular medications for depression
are usually riddled with additional problems. Even more, ketamine
has been off patent for some 50 years, so clinicians say it costs a
fraction of the price of traditional antidepressants. So why isn’t
this highly effective, cheap and almost side-effect free drug being
widely used? And why is it almost completely unknown?

I went to a clinic in Brisbane to find out what the drug does, why
it’s so successful and what’s holding it back. I discovered
incredible stories of recovery from patients who said ketamine
transformed their lives. I saw the excitement from psychiatrists
who believe in the future of the drug. And I found out about the
pitfalls of the treatment.

Ketamine’s ultimate downfall is its history as a party drug. While
clinicians insisted the way they administered the drug had no
recreational effects, patients reported having feelings like those
produced by LSD and ecstasy. It’s what created controversy around
the trials of ketamine as an antidepressant in New Zealand, and saw
an investigation into its use. However, the psychiatrists trialling
the drug are determined to make it available to thousands more
people. And perhaps despite its struggles, ketamine will be the
future for the treatment of mental illness.

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