What is ketamine?

Ketamine is a synthetic medicine classified as a dissociative anesthetic. It is a widely used anesthetic and is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. It was developed in 1963, approved for use in 1970, and adopted by many jurisdictions because of its rapid onset, proven safety, and short duration of action.

Though ketamine is most commonly used as an anesthetic agent in surgical and emergency department settings, it has also been utilized successfully in managing acute and chronic pain conditions.

While ketamine is known to be used recreationally as a street drug outside of medical applications, its use in this context is unrelated to medical and therapeutic use, which has been shown to be safe and associated with positive outcomes.

In the last two decades, ketamine has been increasingly used as a treatment for various mental health conditions, such as depression, substance use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other mental health conditions. If you have any questions or concerns about ketamine itself, do not hesitate to inquire with the Numinus medical team about it during the screening process.