Ketamine switch would hinder use as animal anaesthetic

The use of ketamine by vets as an anaesthetic will be hit if the government accepts a proposal to reclassify the drug, a leading scientist has warned.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has recommended moving ketamine from class C to class B due to concerns about the health risks of recreational use.

However, they also propose a change from schedule 4 to schedule 2, which would affect its legal use by vets to relieve pain in animals such as cats, dogs and horses.

David Nutt, Edmond J. Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London and Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD), said such a move would have harmful consequences for animals.

“The Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs and I agree that if drugs are to be classified based on their harms then the evidence shows ketamine should be upgraded to class B, which affects how illegal handling of ketamine is viewed,” he said.

“However, and this is very important, whilst the ‘class’ affects how we consider illegal use, the ‘schedule’ is the classification for legal use by vets and medics and should not be changed.

“Ketamine is currently a schedule 4 drug, meaning that it can be easily used in daily work by vets and medics. If it is upgraded to schedule 2 as ACMD recommend, that will mean it will have to be kept under lock and key. This will impede necessary clinical use as an anaesthetic, as vets will not be able to use it in the field for example – so animals will suffer.

“Changing the schedule is due to fears that the drug is being taken from clinical stores, but there is no evidence that is happening, so there is absolutely no need for this change.”