Should Ketamine Not Be Banned? A Scoping Review

Abstract

Objectives: Although the importance of ketamine in clinical practice and in resource-poor settings and disaster zones, several attempts were made to reschedule it because of the issues around its misuse. Resisting future moves to reschedule ketamine is important for its continuous availability where needed. This scoping review addresses the question of whether ketamine should or should not be banned and the state of preparedness of low resource settings if ketamine petitions become successful in the future.

Methods: A search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar to identify articles published in the English language from March 2015 to August 2020. The articles were searched with a wide range of priori search terms related to the research questions. The selection of articles was based on relevance and eligibility.

Results: Seventy-five articles were selected and grouped into 4 ethical themes. The search revealed that several articles addressed the importance of ketamine, pharmacology, misuse, supply, and consequences of a ketamine ban; however, none addressed how resource-poor countries should prepare for a future without the overreliance of ketamine.

Conclusion: Four ketamine petitions in about 10 years are an indication that another may resurface soon; therefore, it is important to continue to study the clinical importance of ketamine while discouraging its overreliance for clinical practice.

Keywords: ketamine abuse; ketamine ban; ketamine misuse; ketamine petition; ketamine toxicity.