New street drug discovered in Canberra is ‘ketamine’s cousin’, doctors say
Dubbed CanKet, the ketamine ‘close cousin’ is considered particularly unsafe because its effects are unknown
A new recreational drug related to ketamine has been identified for the first time thanks to Australia’s only fixed-site pill-testing clinic, clinicians say. Â
They have dubbed the substance ‘CanKet’ after the city of Canberra and have since found three further samples from clients who thought it was ketamine.Â
Used recreationally, ketamine is known to cause nightmares, hallucination, high blood pressure and dissociation similar to an out-of-body experience, known as the ‘k-hole’.
But the effects of the new substance were still unclear, said Professor Malcolm McLeod from the Australian National University, the lead chemist at the CanTEST pill-testing site.
