Young teenage girls overdosing on ketamine at Melbourne gatherings, drug expert warns

Girls as young as 14 years old are overdosing on ketamine — bought by older partners and friends — at Melbourne house parties, and a drug expert warns the experience can be “horrific”.

Girls as young as 14 years old are overdosing on ketamine, bought by their older partners and friends, a drug expert has revealed.

Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia director Paul Dillon told the Herald Sun he was alarmed at the number of young people turning to the substance.

“I’ve seen young women ending up in hospital,” he said.

“They’ve been drinking all night and someone offers them ketamine.

“To see very young people, 14 and 15 year olds messing around with it, is quite alarming because they really don’t know what it is.”

Ketamine, also known as “ket”, is an anaesthetic used in both human and veterinary surgery.

Doctors and vets use the drug in an injectable liquid form but recreational users usually buy it as a white crystal.

Paul Dillon has been working as a drug and alcohol educator in schools for 30 years.

Mr Dillon, who has worked as a drug educator in schools for 30 years, said a 14-year-old girl recently survived an overdose after ingesting the drug at a house party in Melbourne.

“It was quite frightening,” he said.

“The mother (whose child was hosting the gathering) had no idea what ketamine was.

“They thought she was drunk but when the paramedics came they realised she was also on ketamine.”

According to recent data in the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, the amount of people who recently used ketamine doubled between 2016 and 2019 from 0.4 per cent to 0.9 per cent of the population.

In 2022 and 2023, ketamine users soared to 1.4 per cent in Australia.

Potential side effects of the drug include disorientation, memory loss, depression, seizures and, in some cases, death.

Mr Dillon says users test their limits and force themselves into the state known as the ‘k-hole’.

Mr Dillon said some users test their limits and force themselves into the state known as the “k-hole”.

This causes them to feel separated or detached from their body or physical environment.

“Ketamine is quite an extreme drug, it’s a dissociative anaesthetic, so what that means is that your mind leaves your body,” Mr Dillon said.

“Some people have said the k-hole is the scariest thing ever.

“It’s been described as black, dark, it’s a near-death experience, it’s horrific.”

Mr Dillon urged parents to have an open conversation with their kids about the substance.

“I never thought I would be speaking about ketamine in schools but I am now,” he said.

“I remember when I made the decision to start talking about it, I was very concerned about doing it.

“But it became very obvious pretty quickly that a vast majority of kids knew about it.

“Many parents don’t have a clue about it so being aware that it is there and having a conversation with your child is important.”