Ketamine in Australia 2017: A Year of Transition
The year 2017 marked a significant turning point in Australia’s relationship with ketamine. While the drug remained a Schedule 8 controlled substance with no approved psychiatric indication, a small pilot program at the Black Dog Institute produced “astounding” results that would catalyse a national conversation about ketamine’s therapeutic potential . At the same time, border detections of ketamine nearly doubled, and recreational use among sentinel populations surged dramatically . Consequently, 2017 stands as a year where the medical promise and illicit reality of ketamine diverged sharply.
The Medical Frontier: The Black Dog Institute Pilot
In July 2017, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on a small pilot program testing low doses of ketamine on patients with treatment-resistant depression. The study, conducted by UNSW researchers at the Black Dog Institute, produced what reporters described as “astounding” results .
Study Details and Limitations
The trial involved only 16 participants, a sample size the researchers themselves acknowledged as a significant limitation. Despite this, about half of the participants reported no depression six months later . The trial was described as the world’s largest study of ketamine as a treatment for depression at that time .
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) responded to the findings with cautious encouragement. The College stated that “the research is encouraging, but much more needs to be known about the safety of ketamine before they will advocate for its use” .
Regulatory Context in 2017
In 2017, ketamine remained TGA-approved only as an anaesthetic drug. Its use for depression was considered an “unregistered experimental treatment” . This meant that psychiatrists who wished to prescribe ketamine for treatment-resistant depression were required to seek authorisation under Section 59E of the Poisons Act 1971 in certain jurisdictions .
The RANZCP’s Clinical Memorandum from November 2019 (which reflected the evolving understanding from this period) recommended that ketamine “should be used under research trial conditions that includes oversight by an institutional research ethics committee and careful monitoring and reporting of effectiveness and safety outcomes” .
The Illicit Market: Border Seizures Double
While medical research progressed cautiously, the illicit ketamine market expanded dramatically. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Report 2016–17 recorded a 99.8% increase in ketamine detections at the Australian border, rising from 487 in 2015–16 to 973 in 2016–17 .
Concealment and Embarkation Points
These detections accounted for 84.5% of all anaesthetic detections at the border during the reporting period . The international mail stream was the primary method of importation, accounting for 99.0% of ketamine detections, followed by air cargo (0.5%) and air passenger/crew (0.5%) .
The United Kingdom was the primary embarkation point for ketamine detections, followed by the Netherlands, Germany, China (including Hong Kong), France, Canada, Malaysia, Spain, and Italy .
The Shift to Illicit Production
Historically, ketamine in Australia was sourced through diversion from the legitimate pharmaceutical market. However, by 2017, the UNODC reported that ketamine was “increasingly being produced illicitly in clandestine laboratories”, predominantly located in East and South-East Asia . This shift marked a fundamental change in the supply chain.
The Domestic Market: Rising Use and Availability
The Illicit Drug Data Report also captured significant changes in the domestic ketamine market during 2017.
Increasing Availability
In a 2016 national study of regular ecstasy users, the proportion of respondents reporting ketamine as easy or very easy to obtain increased from 47.0% in 2015 to 64.0% in 2016. This figure remained stable in 2017 . This represented a substantial increase in perceived availability compared to just a year earlier.
Rising Prevalence Among Sentinel Populations
The Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) tracked ketamine use among people who regularly use ecstasy and other illicit stimulants. The data from 2017 revealed a dramatic upward trend.
Among EDRS participants, the proportion reporting recent ketamine use (in the past six months) had risen from 15.0% in 2015 to 26.0% in 2016, and then further increased to 37.0% in 2017 . The 2018 Victorian EDRS report confirmed this trend, noting that 80% of the 2017 sample reported use in the preceding six months, with a median of 5 days of use .
General Population Data
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey, conducted in 2016 with findings reported in 2017, showed that the proportion of Australians aged 14 or older reporting lifetime ketamine use increased from 1.7% in 2013 to 1.9% in 2016. Recent use also increased, from 0.3% to 0.4% .
Price and Purity in 2017
The price of ketamine in Australia during 2016–17 showed some stability compared to the volatility of the previous year. New South Wales and Queensland reported a price for 1 gram of ketamine powder ranging between $150 and $200 in 2016–17, compared with a much wider range of $50 to $360 in 2015–16 . Victoria separately reported a price of $70,000 for 1 kilogram of ketamine powder during the same period .
Summary
The year 2017 was a pivotal moment in Australia’s relationship with ketamine. Medical research at the Black Dog Institute produced encouraging pilot results for treatment-resistant depression, though the small sample size and experimental status of the treatment meant caution prevailed . Border detections nearly doubled, reflecting both increased enforcement and a shifting supply chain from pharmaceutical diversion to illicit production in Asia . Availability and use among sentinel populations surged, with recent use among regular stimulant users rising from 15% in 2015 to 37% in 2017 . The stage was set for the dramatic changes that would follow in subsequent years.