What is Ketamine?

Ketamine is a chemically created drug with powerful dissociative (mind and body disconnection) and psychedelic effects.  It was initially used as an anesthetic in medicine, created in the 1960s. Ketamine provides excellent pain control with a very high safety profile, making it a popular anesthetic induction agent in a variety of patient populations and settings. It is a controlled substance in the United States and requires administration by a doctor or a prescription, after medical screening. Over the past several decades ketamine has been revealed to have greater potential in the field of medicine beyond anesthesia and research is increasingly showing the clinical value of ketamine across diverse settings, including treating depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, and chronic pain to name a few.