EXCLUSIVE: Police made 601 arrests last year related to the deadly horse tranquiliser, which can cause permanent damage to the bladder, as children as young as 12 buy the drug online
Gemma Weeks, 28, from Dorset, died from ketamine addiction(Image: MUCHLOVED.COM)
Ketamine arrests have more than doubled in four years with children as young as 14 among hundreds of young people being caught with the drug, new figures reveal.
Use of the deadly horse tranquiliser, which can cause permanent damage to the bladder, is bordering “epidemic” proportions as it is sold online for as little as £1-a-hit, an expert said.
According to police forces who responded, 601 ketamine related arrests were made in 2025, up from 269 in 2021. What is striking about the new data is how cases are spread around the country, with rural, smaller forces affected as gangs export the drug from cities.
Wendy Teasdill, whose 18-year-old daughter Ellie Rowe died after taking ketamine at a music festival in 2013, said: “I am absolutely devastated that the use of ketamine amongst young people has escalated to such incredible proportions, and feel powerless. Because what young people listen to their parents? It’s normal to break the boundaries, to find a new path. Unfortunately the path of a regular ketamine user is very short and destructive.”
Of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, 24 responded to our Freedom of Information request about the number of ketamine arrests in the last five years.
North Wales Police detained 27 suspects last year, up from just two in 2021. The force said it arrested a 14-year-old boy in 2024 who was found in possession of 20 snap bags containing the drug.
Cumbria went from four arrests in 2021 to 18 last year, and Kent’s numbers rose from 15 to 43. Merseyside saw an increase from 15 to 48, while the Essex force recorded 96 arrests in 2025, up from 67 in 2021.
In Cheshire the number went from zero to 27, while arrests increased more than five-fold in Devon and Cornwall, from six to 34. Dorset Police made 17 arrests last year, up from two in 2021, Somerset made 31, up from 13, while Dyfed-Powys Police went from 12 to 37.
Rehabs UK Senior Treatment Advisor, Scott Ardley, told the Mirror that the increased use is down to a combination of greater availability and lower prices. Mr Ardly said that ketamine, known as “Ket”, “Special K” or simply “K”, can be bought for as little as £5-a-gram, meaning a hit can cost less than £1. Youngsters are ordering it on social media sites like Snapchat and Telegram from their bedrooms.
The addiction counsellor said: “Ketamine is a huge issue. Five years ago we would see only around one case a month but now it’s one or more a day. Instead of buying a bag of weed they are buying ketamine, it is the new cannabis.
“We see young people with severe cramps in the bladder and the only thing that takes the pain away is ketamine so they get stuck in a horrible cycle.
“I’m seeing children as young as 12 using it. It’s everywhere and the dealers are on Snapchat. Youngsters are selling it to pay for their habit. The country is flooded with it, it’s almost an epidemic. Older dealers who don’t want to get their hands dirty are getting younger teens to sell it for them.”
Mass produced in the UK
Unlike cocaine, ketamine is a synthetic drug that is mass produced illegally in the UK using chemicals bought cheaply from China and India. Organised crime gangs also import it from factories in India where the vast majority of ketamine is produced for the international pharmaceutical market.
West Yorkshire Police bucked the trend after it saw arrests fall from 62 in 2021 to 32 last year. That followed a dramatic decline from 2024 when 116 arrests were made.
The only other force to see a reduction was North Yorkshire, where two people were held last year, down from three in 2021.
Usually snorted as a white powder, ketamine can be even cheaper than vaping and unlike smoking drugs it leaves no obvious trace, making it more attractive to children. It has wrongly had a reputation for being safe when in fact regular use over a couple of years can lead to incontinence, kidney failure and severe bladder damage. Ketamine use can be lethal, particularly when mixed with alcohol or other drugs.
In 2023, there were 37 deaths in England and Wales where ketamine was mentioned on the death certificate, showing a clear rise from previous years. Friends actor Matthew Perry overdosed that year aged 54 after taking ketamine and the opioid, buprenorphine.
Ketamine poisonings are the highest on record, with eight times more people seeking treatment since 2015 in England and Wales, according to the Department of Health.
It was made an illegal Class B drug in 2005, when only a recorded two percent of 16 to 24-year-olds had tried it. That number tripled to 6% by 2020, according to government data, with the number thought to be higher now.
In response to increasing deaths and hospitalisations, the Home Office announced in 2025 that it was considering whether it should be reclassified to a Class A drug.
In January, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said the drug should remain as Class B, arguing that reclassifying in isolation would be unlikely to “reduce prevalence or misuse”. Making it a Class A would mean dealers could be handed life sentences.
Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner David Sidwick told the Mirror: “Ketamine has horrible side effects that can result in young people having their bladders removed. Action is needed now, not in six months or a years’ time.
“In Dorset we have had two deaths and warnings from the coroner that have gone direct to the government.”
Gemma Weeks, 28, used up to £500 of ketamine a week, Dorset coroner Brendan Allen said. Gemma died at her Dorset home in January last year from toxicity and bladder damage caused by the drug, an inquest concluded.
Mr Allen warned that the “highly addictive” substance was being increasingly abused by young people, who sometimes “naively” considered it to be safer than Class A drugs. In a Prevention of Future Deaths Report sent to the Home Secretary he said he was concerned that ketamine had become “easily, widely and cheaply available”.
In a statement, Gemma’s sisters and mother described her as “an absolutely beautiful young lady with a heart of gold”. They added: “Ketamine took Gem’s life, and stole her from ours.
“Had Gem known the road it would lead her down I can guarantee she would have never taken ketamine that very first time.”
Mr Sidwick said: “Where is the public awareness campaign by the government on ketamine? There still hasn’t been one and we are closing our eyes to it. We need to take action.
“I am deeply disappointed with the decision to keep ketamine as a Class B drug. This misguided decision utterly fails to reflect the clear and escalating harm it is causing in our communities, particularly among young people, and it risks perpetuating the dangerous misconception that this is a low-risk substance.”
