Ketamine, previously a fringe drug, has rapidly grown in popularity and for the first time is on a list of drugs on sale around the country.

Over the past few years ketamine, also known as “special K” and “vitamin K”, has been found in Ecstasy pills that have killed several people, including a ten-year-old girl who took five tablets.

Until its appearance in a story line in The Archers, the BBC Radio 4 soap opera, ketamine was relatively uknown to the public.

Jack “Jazzer” McCreary, a Glaswegian transplanted to Ambridge, ended up in intensive care after being found unconscious on the lavatory floor of The Bull public house, leading the landlord, Sid Perks, to comment that he had only himself to blame. Jazzer has suffered memory-loss problems since.

As ketamine has established itself as a new dance drug, the price of Ecstasy pills has fallen to the same price as a bar of chocolate. The pills can now be bought for as little as 50p in some parts of the country — halving in price in the past 12 months.

The latest findings on the drugs scene are reported in today’s issue of Druglink, published by DrugScope, the drugs charity.

Ketamine, a powerful veterinary anaesthetic, is a legal drug, although the Home Office is planning legislation to make it a Category C controlled drug.

The drug, issued on prescription and used by veterinarians, may induce hallucinations and euphoria in humans. It is used in human medicine as a painkiller and is popular in bars used by people before they go clubbing. Ketamine initially had a big following in the gay club scene.

The drug, which is being sold for as little as £15 a gram in Nottingham, has an average price of £30 a gram.

Doses of 100mg lead to euphoria and energy rushes. Higher doses, of 200mg and more, make users descend into hallucinations. Users commonly experience temporary paralysis and speech loss. Drug charities have given warning that taking too much can lead to sickness and blackouts.

The Druglink magazine found that ketamine is on sale in eight out of fifteen British towns and cities. Harry Shapiro, the magazine’s editor, said: “The emergence of ketamine as a key substance of choice is an entirely new phenomenon since we last carried out the survey in 2004, when it didn’t figure at all.”

Pete Hurd, a drugs worker in Nottingham, said: “Ketamine has now established its place alongside the usual dance-scene drugs like Ecstasy. It is being taken with other dance drugs by middle-class people who like to party hard at the weekend and then go back to work in the week.”

One reason for the drug’s growing popularity may be because Ecstasy contains less of the active ingredient, MDMA, than it did years ago.

Neil Venables, a drug worker in Birmingham, said: “People aged 18 to 25 are taking ketamine for a more trippy night out. You can spot them on the dancefloor because they’re not dancing, they’re sitting down in a bit of a vegetative state.”

The survey also found that drug dealers are offering “two-for-one party packs” of heroin and crack, including £5-a-bag offers for prostitutes.

DrugScope said that the survey, carried out among 40 frontline drug services in July, provides the most up-to-date information on average street drug prices.

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