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68DESIGNER DRUGSKETAMINE AS A DATE RAPE DRUGKetamine has a variety of properties and produces a numberof effects that make it an increasingly popular date rape drug.These properties and effects are as follows:• It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, and can easily beslipped into someone’s drink without his or her noticing.• It often causes the user to feel as if he or she cannot move,making him or her unable to ward off unwanted sexualadvances.• It impairs the user’s senses and judgment for up to 24 hoursafter taking the drug, even though the initial trip wears offwithin an hour or so.• It produces amnesia, so the victim may not even recall thata sexual assault has taken place and may not immediatelygo to the police.STATISTICS AND PATTERNSOF KETAMINE USE AND ABUSEAs with other designer and club drugs, ketamine is primarilytaken by teenagers and young adults ages 18–25. A survey ofmiddle and high school students found that in 2001, approximately1.3% of eighth grade students had tried ketamine in thepast year, whereas 2.6% of high school seniors had tried the drug.Ketamine users tend to be predominantly male and Caucasian.Ketamine is often taken with other drugs, such as cocaine,marijuana, alcohol, and Ecstasy, which greatly increases the riskfor overdose. Ketamine tends to be taken by people with ahistory of experimenting with numerous other drugs. Ketamineis also occasionally taken by physicians and veterinarians, whohave easy access to the drug and want to experiment with itspsychedelic effects.