Updated harms assessment of ketamine: commissioning letter
Published 16 January 2025
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Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP
Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
www.gov.uk/home
Professor Owen Bowden-Jones,
Chair, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)
C/o 1st Floor,
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
By email only ACMD@homeoffice.gov.uk
Dear Owen
Updated harms assessment of ketamine
14 January 2025
Ketamine is a vital drug in healthcare and in veterinary medicine. However, it is also misused. Following the ACMD’s review in 2013, ketamine was moved from Class C to Class B under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (“1971 Act”) in 2014, due to its potential for harm when misused.
The government is concerned that the misuse of ketamine, particularly amongst young people, has grown in the last decade. In the year ending March 2024, an estimated 269,000 people aged 16-59 years had reported ketamine use in the last year, in England and Wales. Ketamine use in young people, aged 16-24 years, has increased by 231% since March 2013. The harms of ketamine - including its degree of addictiveness and the possibility of irreversible bladder damage - may be underestimated by users.
Therefore, I invite the ACMD to provide an updated harms assessment of ketamine, and advice on reducing harms, in response to emerging evidence, and in particular whether it should be moved to Class A. I will write further to the ACMD shortly to place this commission in the context of the forthcoming three-year work programme cycle.
I remain grateful to the ACMD for its continued provision of expert advice on the appropriate response to drug-related harms.
Yours sincerely,
(signed) Diana Johnson
Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP
Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention