Parents in the United States have sometimes been surprised to find a picture of a breakfast cereal box on their child's bedroom wall. The breakfast cereal is Special K, and the display may well indicate their teen's interest in the drug ketamine, which is commonly referred to as "Special K," although there is no relationship at all between ketamine and the cereal or its manufacturer. As ketamine abuse has become increasingly common during recent years, other slang or street names have developed, such as "Vitamin K" and just "K." Persons under the influence of ketamine are sometimes said to be in a "K-hole" or in "K-land."

The Medical Uses of Ketamine

Ketamine is used medically to produce a brief period of anesthesia, during which the individual usually feels as if he or she is dissociated, or separated, from his or her body. This is called dissociative anesthesia. Ketamine...