'People aren't educated on the risks of ketamine use - our charity will change that'

Ketamine addiction among the UK’s youth has become a national problem, with addiction experts saying it's set to lead the next drug crisis in the country. Addiction specialists and doctors alike assert that the low cost of the drug has made it particularly popular among young people, but that public awareness of the long term harms and how to treat ketamine use disorders is lacking.

While addiction charities and researchers seek to educate the public about the dangers of non-prescribed ketamine use, the charity Stop Ketamine UK (SKUK) seeks to meet avid users where they're often found: in schools and at festivals.

Stop Ketamine UK brands itself as “the UK’s first and only ketamine-focused charity." I spoke to its founder Charlie, 24, and social media manager, Shannon, who say the organisation found its roots in May 2025 in honour of their late friend, Izzy, who died from complications of ketamine use.

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Charlie and Shannon explain that their focus is on harm reduction and educating young people before they get to the point of addiction or first use. They speak to secondary and university students at schools and partner with festivals like Boomtown to provide education about the risks of ketamine use.

They claim there’s a lack of awareness even by healthcare workers about how to handle ketamine abuse in the UK. “Even people working in the urology departments don’t know enough about ketamine because it’s just not educated on because it’s so new," they tell me.

Charlie and Shannon say medical professionals and even festival medics have reached out asking for information about the effects of ketamine and how to support someone in a ‘k-hole’: the dissociative state experienced after ingesting ketamine. According to a report in the BMJ medical journal, ketamine users confirm that health services in the UK often lack an understanding of ketamine addiction and offer minimal treatment options specific to the drug.

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“We’re not medical professionals,” the young women emphasise. “But our message is very, very clear and it’s different from other organisations. Our message is that there is no safe way to do drugs.”

While they have ambitions to create educational packages for medical professionals and support a nationwide signposting procedure, what separates their charity is: 1) an ability to connect with their young adult peers and 2) a no-tolerance stance on drug use. Charlie is emphatic: “I'm not going to teach you a safe way to do drugs”.

'There is no safe choice'

SKUK was set up at this year’s Boomtown festival, where Charlie says their team was met with some antagonism. “We had a few people coming out to us after [saying], ‘Well, you'll never stop drugs.’ We know that. I know I won't stop drugs [use]. However, I'm not going to tell people that there's a safe way to take drugs. I'm going to tell you absolutely don't do it.”

For Charlie, discussing drug use in any way is off the table and that has to do with the personal toll she’s already paid. “I [saw] my best friend in an open casket and I watched her get buried six feet under at the age of 22.” That said, SKUK says they don’t work with lawmakers and want to focus on simply "helping people".

The charity instead seeks to educate young adults about the misconception that ketamine is a 'safe' drug because it is deemed not addictive as a substance. “I don’t know where that narrative has come from, that it is a safe drug,” says Shannon. “I think because it’s cheaper and it's a Class B [drug],” Charlie chimes in.

They emphasise though that the disassociation that comes from ketamine use can be incredibly dangerous and, while it may not be deemed addictive, its medical value as an anaesthetic leads to a ‘vicious cycle’ of abuse to treat side effects of overuse like 'ket cramps'.

'We're like you, we just don't put our lives at risk'

Despite only being a few months old, SKUK is already in high demand and has been bombarded with questions and messages from those seeking education and addiction resources. Charlie and Shannon say the resonance of their warnings in schools and at festivals has to do with their team's ability to connect with today's youth.

“I come into schools on a peer-to-peer basis. And that's really key to what we do and why the message is working so well for us because of that reason: I look like you. I look like your friends. I look like I could be your sibling," says Charlie.

She continues: “I think for us, we're in a position where we can talk to people of the same kind of age and be able to get through to them in a way that's different from other charities.”

Their youth gives them social credibility but also sets them up to be prime examples of sober living. “We're still two girls in our 20s. We still want to go and have fun. I think the society around our age and younger at the moment is that you should do drugs. This is how to have fun. And it's not. So we're saying: 'We're like you. We just don't put our lives at risk'.”

If you have been affected by this story, contact We Are With You, a charity that offers free, confidential support to people in England and Scotland who have challenges with drugs, alcohol or mental health.

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