A quick guide to understanding ‘fake’ ketamine

Friday, 28 November, 2024.

Photo by De'Andre Bush on Unsplash

Ketamine use is at an all time high in Australia but unfortunately not everyone is being sold the real thing.

In early November NSW Health released a drug alert warning the public about MDMA tablets spiked with a ketamine analogue known as 2F-NENDCK.

Ketamine, aka ket, Special K or simply K, is a dissociative anaesthetic used to tranquilise and manage pain for humans and animals, such as horses (hence why it is sometimes nicknamed “horse tranquiliser”).

It can make your vision and hearing go wonky and, if you take enough of it, it will temporarily paralyse you. At high doses you might struggle to move any of joints, including your fingers, meaning you won’t even be able to lift up a cup of water to drink.

Ketamine analogues mimic ketamine’s chemical makeup but they can produce different effects including stronger detachment from reality or hallucinations.

To help understand the difference between ketamine and its analogous, Caitlin Dooley, People and Event Management Specialist for DanceWize NSW developed the ‘Potato Head Analogy’.

This is Ketamine

Let’s say this Mr Potato Head represents regular ketamine.

You have all your regular Mr. Potato Head parts – eyes, nose, mouth. They’re all roughly where you'd expect them to be.

This is a Ketamine Analogue

This Mr Potato Head represents a ketamine analogue.

This Mr. Potato Head still has all the same parts, but they're all mixed up.

They probably don’t function exactly the same as the other Potato Head. Maybe they drool into their eye sometimes.

The analogue detected in the MDMA tablets, 2F-NENDCK, has an almost identical chemical make up to ketamine. However, this tiny difference can completely change how the substance effects our bodies.

Just like how the second Mr Potato Head has the eye-drool issue despite technically having all the same parts and the first.

Effects of 2F-NENDCK

As with any substance the effects of ketamine vary from person to person.

Feelings of euphoria, peacefulness and serenity are common. However, as a dissociative it can also reduce coordination and motor skills, numb your nerves and induce a feeling of disconnectedness from reality.

Most effects wear off after roughly two hours.

Due to its relative ‘newness’ the effects of 2F-NENDCK fully understood but some anecdotal reports suggest it produces a longer, sometimes less enjoyable, high then real ketamine.

“It has dissociative effects similar to ketamine but feels fairly different. On top of the dissociative effects, it resulted in some mild euphoric feelings, some mild nausea, and its effects were still being felt after 4+ hours. It also resulted in a bit of a hangover the next day,” one user reported to DrugsData.org.

“Not euphoric. Just visuals and body high,” reported another, simply.

Staying safe

The only surefire way to know if your gear is legit is to have it tested by a drug checking service like CanTest in the ACT or CheqPoint in Queensland.

However, since no such service exists in NSW we must resort to other harm reduction methods.

Reagent tests are a good way to double-check that your gear is what you think it is. However, reagent testing will only detect known substances, and it may not identify some analogues or 'novel' substances.

With this uncertainty in mind, it’s recommended that you start with a low dose until you get a sense of the effects.

Ketamine usually takes between 5 to 15 minutes to kick in with the peak somewhere around 20 minutes but it can last up to an hour depending on various factors such as your body size, metabolism or tolerance.

It’s never a good idea to drive while under the influence of illegal drugs, but ketamine is an especially dangerous choice due to the way it effects your coordination and reaction time. Just don’t do it.

The onset time for 2F-NENDCK is not currently known, but the reports on DrugData.org suggest it can kick in pretty quickly.

Additionally, you should understand how ket (and ket analogues) interact with other drugs.

It’s important to remember that ketamine is a depressant, so try to avoid combining it with other depressants such as alcohol, GHB, heroin, oxycodone, or benzodiazepine (benzos).

Ket can enhance the effects of MDMA and nitrous oxide (nangs). It can also intensify the experiences associated with psychedelics such as magic mushrooms and LSD (acid).

Mixing it with cocaine (a combo commonly called ‘Calvin Klein’) or other stimulants can impair coordination and raise blood pressure.

Finally, keeping an eye on drug alerts and CanTEST’s monthly reports will give you an idea about what substances are currently circulating. It’s not a full proof method but it’s another layer of harm reduction to help you make the most informed choice you can.