Top US doctors have issued a chilling warning about the rise of mail-order ketamine therapy after clinics began selling the drug as an injectable.
Tens of thousands of Americans are turning to the sedative as a growing body of research shows it can be used to treat depression.
But experts have sounded the alarm about companies sending the drug to vulnerable customers after cursory online checks.
Doctors say unsupervised administration of the tranquilizer, despite being legal, is “a recipe for disaster.”
Now, the American Society of Physicians, Psychotherapists and Professionals (ASKP3), the largest think tank for ketamine treatment practitioners, has warned against companies that have begun marketing the drug as an injectable.
This photo, posted on social media site Reddit, purports to show a mail-in ketamine therapy kit sent to a client that includes syringes, alcohol swabs, and a bottle of ketamine.
The tragic death of Matthew Perry, who overdosed on ketamine, has put the drug’s growing popularity in the spotlight.
Previously, clinics largely offered prescriptions by mail in the form of pills and nasal sprays.
ASKP3, however, said it had learned that at least one telehealth company was “offering injectable liquid ketamine with syringes intended for subcutaneous administration in home settings without supervision on an ongoing basis.”
The society said in a statement that this practice can be “harmful to patients and poses a substantial risk of misuse, abuse and diversion.”
It comes after DailyMail.com revealed the ease with which customers can now access the sedative, which is sometimes abused as a street drug, after a journalist signed up for an online supply within minutes.
After an online survey and a brief virtual consultation, our correspondent was offered a plan that cost $129 a month and included a package of ketamine pills.
Another online clinic, Mindbloom, offers ketamine therapy by mail for up to $359 a month.
Their website says their ‘Bloombox’ package includes ‘essentials’ like ‘an eye mask, journal, and blood pressure monitor.’
It does not explicitly state what form the medicine comes in, but an icon suggests it is a pill.
However, the company came to the attention of AKSP after reports on social media suggested it was offering ketamine as an injectable.
Jules Evans, a psychedelic therapy expert at Queen Mary, University of London, shared a post from The Mindbloom Community, a private Facebook group, that said the company was testing “Mindboom Injectables.”
The post, which appears to be from Mindbloom itself, said clients can now self-administer ketamine into the abdomen using a small needle in the “comfort” of their homes.
He added that this should be done “with the presence of a peer treatment monitor.”
Posts on Reddit from people claiming to be Mindbloom customers said they had been offered the injections if they had failed to reach a “dissociative state” from the pills they had been sent.
The Mindbloom Community, a private Facebook group, says the company is testing Mindboom Injectables for its customers.
Mail-order clinics, including Mindbloom, which offers at-home ketamine therapy for up to $359 a month, have been accused by medical experts of putting patient safety at risk.
Evidence suggests that ketamine is on the rise for both recreational and medicinal purposes.
One user posted a photo of what they said was a Mindbloom mail-order kit that came with syringes, alcohol swabs, and a bottle of ketamine.
The injections are said to cost $139 more.
ASKP3 said in its statement that “sending syringes and liquid ketamine to patients for home use is substantially outside of community standards and is highly risky at both the individual and community level.”
He said such injections can cause a “painful” sterile abscess that can last for weeks and even require surgery.
DailyMail.com has contacted Mindbloom for comment.
The tragic death of Matthew Perry, who overdosed on ketamine, has put the drug’s growing popularity in the spotlight.
Evidence suggests that its use is increasing for both recreational and medicinal purposes, as more Americans seek alternative forms of therapy.
In October, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressed concern about this trend.
He warned that the drug, which is approved as an anesthetic, is not approved for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
‘The FDA is aware that ketamine compound products have been marketed for a wide variety of psychiatric stress disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder… and obsessive-compulsive disorder); however, the FDA has not determined that ketamine is safe and effective for such uses,” the statement reads.
Using ketamine for such treatments without monitoring “may put patients at risk for serious adverse events,” the agency added.
Mindbloom’s website states that 89 percent of its clients report improvement in anxiety and depression.
But the figure comes from a study in which more than half of participants reported no follow-up data.
Perry was known to have been using ketamine therapy. His last known infusion was a week and a half before his death. The medical examiner noted that the ketamine found in her bloodstream could not have come from that session, as it typically disappears from her system within hours.
The research, titled “Home-based telehealth with sublingual ketamine is a safe and effective treatment for moderate to severe anxiety and depression,” has received public criticism from Dr. Sanacora.
In a written response, the professor and his Yale colleague Dr. Samuel Wilkinson said they objected to the paper’s title “for several reasons” and added that “the authors’ conclusions go far beyond the data.”
They continued: ‘Possible concerning scenarios with home administration of ketamine include drug diversion, abuse, and dysphoric reactions that could leave patients in a state of fear and paranoia without adequate monitoring, which could lead to harm to themselves or others’.
Dr. Sanacora’s letter was made public in August 2022, but Mindbloom still proudly touts the paper as “the largest ketamine therapy study to date” on its website.
Mindbloom’s chief strategy officer Mike Petegorsky previously told DailyMail.com that online clinics make ketamine therapy “accessible and affordable for people who need it.”
“I’ve seen the concerns about home ketamine therapy, but I haven’t seen data to support them,” he added.