Ketamine addiction among young people quadruples in Lancashire

We Are With You, a substance abuse and mental health charity, has been running Let's Talk Ketamine for the past 18 months for anyone who supports a young person struggling with the drug. The next meeting takes place on Monday at noon.

Ketamine is a powerful anaesthetic that can damage the bladder, kidneys, and liver, and can even be fatal. With the drug becoming more popular among Gen Z, the charity launched the sessions to help teach parents, siblings, GPs, teachers, police officers and more how to put interventions in place and support young people with the life-changing effects of prolonged use.

Grace Willsher is With You's Regional Head of Young People's Service Delivery in the North.

"Ketamine is often used as a party drug,” she said. “It gives young people confidence, and makes them feel euphoric and like they're floating. A low dose can have short-term effects like alcohol. So they might see it as an alternative.”

It’s also, she adds, “very cheap. Some of our services have reported that it’s £15 to £30 a gram while cocaine is £80.”

Grace believes this may explain why the charity has seen ketamine addiction among 11-24-year-olds quadruple in Lancashire over the past seven years, with the number of young people using its support services rising from 32 in 2018/19 to 123 at the end of 2024.

The charity is concerned about some youths missing out on long-term support, and believes more detox services registered with the Care Quality Commission are needed for under 18s.

"They are in short supply, so nationally we'd like to see more of them," said Grace.

"We have seen a boost in our early intervention work thanks to funding, and we've been able to reach more people but we need more follow-on routes for young people who are seeing more significant damage [to their bodies]."

For help and advice via the charity's free webchat service, please visit https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

You can find more details about the times and dates of the Let’s Talk Ketamine sessions here.