Patterns of use, harm reduction strategies, and their relation to risk behavior and harm in recreational ketamine users

Abstract

This study provides empirical evidence on strategies related to the lower probability of harm associated with ketamine use as employed by recreational ketamine users. Our findings suggest that efforts to minimize harm from ketamine use should focus on increasing awareness of potential harms and the use of identified harm reduction strategies.

Harm reduction strategies related to dosing and their relation to harms among festival attendees who use multiple drugs

“…In line with previous findings , our results show that a high percentage of participants reported negative health‐related consequences they believed to be associated with their drug use, mainly bad mood after drug use, headache, memory impairment, insomnia and tachycardia. However, these consequences were associated with dosing‐related harm reduction strategies in different ways.…”

“…Derived from previous studies , we asked participants about the use of six‐related harm reduction strategies via the following items: (i) ‘I set a limit to the quantity I will take and try not to exceed it’; (ii) ‘I prefer taking small doses instead of large quantities’; (iii) ‘During a party, I wait for the effects of a dose to decrease before taking another one’; (iv) ‘I avoid, or I am cautious, about mixing depressants (alcohol, GHB, opiates, etc. )’; (v) ‘I avoid, or I am cautious, about mixing stimulants (cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy…)’; and (vi) ‘If I am mixing drugs, the quantity of each of them I take is lower than if I take each of them separately’.…”

“…However, studies have not examined whether ecstasy users who utilise harm reduction strategies report fewer negative health consequences. To our knowledge, regarding drugs other than alcohol and cannabis, only one study has examined whether ketamine users who adopt harm reduction strategies report experiencing fewer adverse health consequences , which found that the adoption of these strategies related to lower probabilities of experiencing negative effects.…”

“…Many of the protective strategies relate to how people administer drugs to themselves. For example, planning not to exceed a set number of drinks, avoiding mixing different substances, and spacing out doses within a session of drug use . We conceptualised these strategies as dosing‐related harm reduction strategies.…”

“…Other strategies require shared responsibility with other people to carry them out (e.g. ensuring a member of the group remains sober) . However, the responsibility of using dosing‐related harm reduction strategies directly relies on the user, which may contribute to a higher level of self‐control when using drugs.…”