Ketamine could become Class A drug after Labour asks for review
Share:
Ketamine could be upgraded from a class B to a class A drug after the government requested a review into its status. Currently, those who supply or produce the club drug can face a prison sentence of up to 14 years, an unlimited fine, or both. If it is reclassified – placing it alongside drugs like heroin, cocaine and LSD – supplying or producing ketamine could mean life in prison.
![[Close up hand holding old spoon with Ketamine, cigarette lighter, syringe on dirty cement floor. Addictive substance, narcotic, habit-forming substance concept.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235279264-09a0.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The maximum jail sentence for possession would also increase from five years to seven years. Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said a recent rise in use of the drug, with a record high of around 299,000 people aged between 16 and 59 reporting having used it in the year ending March 2023, is ‘deeply concerning’.
But a top drug treatment provider has warned that changing the classification is unlikely to stop usage and may make people more reluctant to seek help. Dame Diana will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) asking for advice on how ketamine should be controlled.
The government is required by law to consult the ACMD before any changes to drug legislation are made. Ketamine, widely known as ket or K, is an anaesthetic that has become popular as a party drug in clubs and raves. Typically snorted as a powder or injected as a liquid, it can distort the user’s perceptions of sight and sound, making them feel dissociated from their surroundings.
