EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances — Distribution and supply in Europe: Ketamine

This resource is part of EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances — In-depth analysis by the EMCDDA and Europol.

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Last update: 27 June 2024

Background

Ketamine was one of the first new psychoactive substances to emerge in Europe during the 1990s. Since then, it has become an established feature of the drug market in some countries.

Ketamine is commonly snorted, but can also be injected, and has been linked to various dose-dependent acute and chronic harms, including neurological and cardiovascular toxicity, mental health problems, such as depression, and urological complications, such as bladder damage from intensive use or the presence of adulterants.

Ketamine may also be added to other drug mixtures, including MDMA powders and tablets, although 2021 data from drug checking services show that these are generally less adulterated than other illicit drugs.

It can also be found in mixtures sold as ‘pink cocaine’ or ‘tucibi’, which are more likely to contain ketamine and stimulant drugs, particularly MDMA.

Production

The available information suggests that most ketamine seized in Europe is imported from India and, to a lesser degree, Pakistan and China. It transits through countries including the Netherlands and Belgium and is distributed outside and to a lesser extent within the European Union (National Police of the Netherlands, 2022). Shell companies may be used to import the substance via pharmaceutical companies in Europe. For example, in Austria, legitimate needs by licensed pharmaceutical companies should not exceed 25 to 50 kilograms of ketamine, yet shipments are frequently in the order of hundreds of kilograms (EMCDDA, unpublished). The Belgian Police estimates that about 28 tonnes of ketamine may have been diverted between 2019 and 2021 (EMCDDA, unpublished). Substitution of ketamine shipments with sugar or salt before further transit appears to be one of the methods used to avoid detection.

In Europe, evidence of illicit production of ketamine is limited to a small number of seizures of precursors and a few dismantled production sites in the Netherlands and Belgium. At least four ketamine production sites were dismantled between 2017 and 2021 (excluding storage sites). All findings occurred in the Netherlands, with the exception of one production site, which was discovered in Belgium in 2020. In these facilities, manufacturing processes included extraction of medicinal products (evaporation of commercial pharmaceutical solutions of ketamine) and crystallisation of ketamine (as ketamine ‘needles’, or small crystals, are a highly valued product in the illicit market) (National Police of the Netherlands, 2022). In one of the dismantled facilities, approximately 500 kilograms of ketamine hydrochloride was recovered.

Though apparently rare, synthetic production of ketamine in the European Union has been documented. Ketamine hydroxylimine (an important intermediary in the synthesis of the medicine) was seized from two production sites in 2019 and 2020, both in the Netherlands. In the 2020 case, approximately 50 kilograms of the precursor was seized from a warehouse where large-scale production of ketamine was taking place. Such cases appear to occur whenever pharmaceutical ketamine becomes hard to obtain (National Police of the Netherlands, 2022).

Situation

The quantity of ketamine seized and reported to the EU Early Warning System has varied over time, but has remained at relatively high levels in recent years, suggesting that this drug is likely to be consistently available in some national drug markets and may have become an established drug of choice in some settings. In addition, Europe is an important transit and distribution hub.

In 2022, 2 985 seizures amounting to 2.79 tonnes of ketamine were made in Europe (see Figures Seizures of ketamine reported to the EU Early Warning System: trends in numbers of seizures and quantities seized for all forms reported in weight, European Union, 2005-2022). This includes a single seizure of 0.5 tonnes by Danish customs, 0.27 tonnes in a single seizure by Spain, and two seizures amounting to 1.59 tonnes by Dutch customs, imported from Georgia.

Systematic information on the price of ketamine is not available in Europe. An indication of the price of retail and street-level ketamine in the Netherlands is provided in the table Price of ketamine in the Netherlands, 2022.

Source: Central Criminal Investigations Division, Dutch Police, Netherlands.

Source data

All of the source data used in graphics and data tables may be found in our Data catalogue.

References

Consult the list of references used in this module.