Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with regards to the decision of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs to postpone consideration of including ketamine under Schedule 4 of the 1971 Convention, what process the Commission will follow to further analyse the effects of international control of the drug.

The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs decided by consensus to postpone the consideration of the proposal to place Ketamine in Schedule IV of the 1971 Convention and to request additional information from the World Health Organisation and other relevant sources. The process for providing this information has yet to be defined, however the Government understands that Member State action would be required for the Commission to re-consider scheduling. The Government does not believe that controlling ketamine internationally is appropriate. It could result in reduced access to a substance listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organisation and widely used as an anaesthetic in low and middle income countries. We will submit evidence outlining our position when appropriate.In the UK, the Government is determined to clamp down on the illegal misuse of ketamine, which leaves young people hospitalised with serious bladder and kidney damage every year, and is detected in a number of deaths every year. To prevent its misuse, we have made ketamine a Class B drug and taken action to ensure its availability for health and veterinary care in the UK is properly regulated.