King's College London

This project aims to better understand the experiences of people who use ketamine every day or almost every day, in order to find out how to improve prevention, treatment and harm-reduction support for this group. We will look at why people start using ketamine and how their use becomes daily. We want to find out about the problems they face because of ketamine and what makes them want to change or seek help. We will also look at messages about harm-reduction to find out which work well and which do not. Finally, we will try to understand why some frequent users don’t go to support services, and what kind of help they feel they need from drug and alcohol services, physical health care, and mental health services.

We will interview people aged 16 or older who currently use ketamine every day or nearly every day (this means 25 days or more every month). We will find people to take part using adverts in the community and through services, making sure we include people who have used services as well as those who have not.

Interviews will be held online through Microsoft Teams to make it easier for people to take part and to keep identities private. A topic guide will be created with help from people who have lived experience of frequent ketamine use. Interview topics may include reasons for first using ketamine, experiences of increasing use, harms experienced, attempts to quit or reduce use, experiences with services, and ideas for improving support.

This project will provide detailed insight into ketamine-related harms and the healthcare needs of people who use ketamine frequently. This is an area that has not been well studied, despite rising levels of use. The findings can help improve ways to stop people from starting, help users stay safer, and strengthen treatment services.

The work also supports two major goals in the government’s 10-year Drugs Strategy: improving treatment and recovery services, and reducing the demand for drugs. By giving services and government decision-makers a clearer picture of what people who use ketamine need, the findings can help shape better support and more practical ways to help with ketamine-related problems.