The Hidden Dangers of Drug Abuse
The Bristol Urological Institute held its 18th Annual Scientific Meeting on 9 November 2011. The topic was The Bladder; dysfunctional and diseased. The highlight was a session on the effects of ketamine abuse on the bladder. Ketamine is an anaesthetic that is sometimes used quite legitimately as a pain killer. However, recently it has become a recreational drug used by hundreds of young people, average age 26 years, but some as young as 14 years old. In the UK it is a Class C drug but we are now seeing the devastating effect it can have on the bladder even after short term use. Drs Peggy Chu and Wai-Kit Ma have been seeing these problems for a number of years in Hong Kong. Fortunately the government in Hong Kong has been highly pro-active in carrying out intensive awareness raising campaigns and in introducing more severe penalty measures for dealers and suppliers, and these are beginning to yield results with a drop in the number of cases presenting to hospital. Closer to home, Angela Cottrell and David Gillatt have been working with the Bristol Drugs Project to improve the help given to ketamine abusers in the south west of England, and Angela presented some of their shocking findings. We know very little about how ketamine has such a devastating effect on the bladder, but Professor Jenny Southgate from York University, an expert in bladder tissue engineering and reconstruction, is now looking into the mechanisms with colleagues in London and Leicester.
The session was opened with the story from ketamine users themselves. This powerful video, made by Lauren Jennings, set the scene and can be viewed below.
Lauren has seen her friends suffering and says “I made this video because people are using ketamine, it is cheap and easy to get a hold of, but they don’t know how what damage it can do. I want everyone to see this video and help raise awareness”.
The session was attended by a mother whose son died from ketamine abuse, aged 28 years old. “My son was too trusting, he thought the people giving him the ketamine were friends. I said to him, they are not your friends!” Since then she has been campaigning to get the UK government to change the classification from a Class C drug to a Class B drug, which are more dangerous and carry higher sentences for possession. For easy to follow information on drug classification click on: http://www.inbrief.co.uk/offences/drug-classification.htm
We are currently seeking funding to support the much needed research into the effects of ketamine on the bladder, which may also aid our understanding into the aetiology of bladder cancers and other conditions such as interstitial cystitis, a painful and persistent condition experienced by many sufferers. If you can help us raise funds, please get in touch with Karen Evely at Karen_Evely@bui.ac.uk