"Club Drugs"

Ketamine, sometimes called K, Special K, or Vitamin K, is a dissociative anasthetic which stimulates breathing and heart rate. Ketamine lasts about one hour, and recovery from the drug can be from 90-120 minutes. Effects of one dose include major changes in thought and perception, hallucinations, psychological dissociation, out-of-body experiences, and near-death-like states. A user may experience panic, a sense of floating, disconnection from the body, and associations with "alternate worlds" or "parallel dimensions." Users may also experience numbness and lack of coordination. Ketamine is unpredictable, and users can injure themselves in falls or accidents.

Phenylethylamine, also known as 2 C-B, Nexus, Utopia or Venus, produces effects similar to Ecstasy. It lasts about 5-6 hours, with an initial "energy tremor" after about 20-30 minutes and causes visual distortions and hallucinations 1-2 hours after ingesting the dose. Effects of 2 C-B include feelings of insight, heightened emotional awareness and sensitivity, and enhanced experience of the 5 senses. Examples of visual distortions that may be experienced include intensification of color, rippling in walls/ceilings and transformation of everyday objects into unusual forms.

GHB, also called Liquid E, has properties of both psychedelics and sedatives. Effects of GHB start within 30 minutes of ingestion and last 2-4 hours. Effects include dizziness, slowed heart rate, and slowed breathing. It may bring on non-rousable sleep. It can also cause nausea, vomiting, headaches and diarrhea. It has been linked to a number of date-rape incidents, where the drug has been deposited in an unsuspecting person's drink. Because doses of GHB are difficult to gauge, it is relatively easy to accidentally overdose on the drug.

Potential problems with all club drugs:

1. Users of any "club drug" may experience hyperthermia, or dangerously high body temperature. Some ravers have died from hyperthermia and dehydration, caused by excessive dancing and not drinking enough water.
2. There is some evidence that suggests that people susceptible to psychological problems can have a recurrence when they use certain club drugs. Evidence of this has been shown in people with a history of panic/anxiety disorders, psychosis disorders, bipolar disorders, and depressive disorders.
3. It is dangerous to mix any drug with alcohol, but club drugs in particular seem to have some serious side effects when mixed with alcohol, such as violent vomiting fits, long-term blackouts, and the ultimate negative side effect, death.

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