From: locklin@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Misquamicus)
Subject: Re: PCP/Ketamine
Organization: Campus Crusade for Cthulhu
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 01:08:44 GMT
X-Posted-From: titan.ucc.umass.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <1992Nov9.223836.9631@reed.edu> bowman@reed.edu (Eric Bowman (bobo)) writes:
>In article <1992Nov9.211323.17800@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> locklin@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Misquamicus) writes:
>>I have noticed a lot of wavelength lately devoted to ketamine. Unless there is
>>some quasilegal method of obtaining the stuff, it seems very unlikely that any
>>ketamine on the street would actually be ketamine.
>
>There is some quasilegal method of obtaining the stuff.  Doctors & Vets have
>legal access to it.  Most ketamine on the street really is ketamine.  It
>comes in a little vial that says "ketamine".  It's much, much easier to get
>it this way than to make it, I would imagine.

In the united states, as far as I know, Ket isn't approved for human use.
Vets do have access, but consider the likelihood of a vet risking loss of
his licence to make a couple of bucks selling ketamine. Doctors have access to
all kinds of nifty opiates, but you don't see that much of 'em on the streets. 
All in all I think this is a rather bold assertion (that Most ket on the 
streets is indeed ket). Have you any references? Am I to assume these vials
are labeled in a pharmacological way rather than a generic "Ketamine" label?

>>Because ketamine requires something like 10X the dose of PCP for similar 
>>effects, and the synthesis for PCP is much easier (from what I have heard). 
>>These, plus the fact that the average schmoe at a rave or on the street is
>>unlikely to know the difference in effect (indeed, it is questionable whether
>>a user who has sampled both could tell the difference).
>
>Everyone I've ever met who has taken both ketamine and PCP reports that there
>is little or no similarity between the two, other than chemical structure.

WHoa! How do you (or they) know what they took? I have several friends who are
quite experienced LSD users who insist that the "microdot" acid they take is
a different drug than blotter (they say it is mescaline, which is absurd).
Some more scientific reports (i.e. the testers knew what the subjects were
taking, but the subjects didn't) back up my assertions. The benignness of
ket as compared to PCP seems to be psychological.

>>While I am not trying to knock the "comeback" of this 60-70's drug, the user
>>should keep in mind that the same warnings and "bum trips" that applied to
>>PCP also apply to "ketamine".
>
>Yeah, well, maybe.  Empirical evidence would suggest to me that PCP is *much
>more unpredictable* than ketamine.

Name some. the only thing I can see that would make ketamine more predictable
is a more controlled dosage (assuming it does come in pharmacutical form).
Also, I doubt as "ket" is smoked as PCP often was, which would create a much
more powerful (possibly deleriant) experience. 

>I met some people who were experimenting with massive, extended doses of 
>ketamine.  They, like Lilly, ascribe a nearly mystical quality to the exp-
>erience, similar to that held by the early proponents of LSD.

Of course they do. Many early users of Ket (AND PCP) reported "out of body"
experiences and other similar phenomena. This was considered an undesirable
side-effect & they were discontinued as human anesthetics.
>
>And just what drug *should* people take at a rave?

They shouldn't. (how about TMA? Shuglin reported some _nice_ effects from that
one ;)

Again, I don't give a shit what kind of poisons ya take. I'm not necessarily 
saying that PCP or ket are necessarily "bad drugs". I just advocate caution
when dealing with a new "drug-fad".
>toodles,
>bobo
>bowman@reed.edu

-Misquamicus
Newsgroups: alt.drugs