March 30, 2026

Believe in People EXTRA: The Ketamine Reality Check

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This short episode of Believe in People EXTRA features a short focused clip from our conversation with Dr Caroline Copeland

Dr Copeland is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology at King’s College London, and the Director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality. Today she explores ketamine use, polydrug risks, drug adulteration, and the growing dangers within today’s drug supply.

Dr Copeland will be joining Believe in People for a full-length episode in the coming weeks.

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🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler
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Chapters

00:00 - Welcome To Believe In People Extra

00:27 - Ketamine In The UK Today

00:47 - What Mortality Data Reveals

01:08 - Polydrug Use And Adulteration Risks

01:41 - Harm Reduction And Making Use Safer

03:39 - Share Subscribe And Find Resources

Transcript

WEBVTT

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This is a renew original recording.

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Hello and welcome to Believe in People Extra, the companion miniseries to our award-winning podcast about all things addiction, recovery, and stigma.

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I'm Robbie Lawson, the show's producer, and each week I'll bring you highlights, exclusive recordings, extended cuts, and powerful moments from our archive.

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This series brings together the most impactful conversations and recovery-focused insights condensed into short episodes to support and inspire those on their journey.

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In today's episode, we hear from one of the UK's leading figures working at the forefront of drug-related harm and mortality.

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We're focusing on the realities of ketamine use in the UK, what's changing, what's driving it, and why the risks are increasing.

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We explore the dangers of polydrug use, the unpredictability of today's drug supply, and the real-world consequences that too often go unseen.

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So I'm Dr.

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Caroline Copeland.

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I'm a senior lecturer in pharmacology and toxicology at King's College London, and it's where I run the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality, which is a database of deaths following drug use reported to by coroners from across the UK.

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So I deal with people who have died following the use of ketamine, so that's the ultimate adverse event.

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And you know, one of the things that we're seeing increasingly is the number of substances that people are taking together with ketamine.

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And we don't know if that's that they've taken them intentionally together or what they've purchased has actually been adulterated with other substances.

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And that's what I think is really dangerous about drug use today is that you don't know what it is that you're buying, and increasingly we're seeing these super potent synthetic analogues being mixed in with uh what people think that they're getting, and it's actually much more dangerous.

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So, specifically for ketamine, I think a lot of it comes down to you know cost saving.

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It's cheaper than cocaine, and actually, to an extent, it's quite cost-effective with regards to using alcohol.

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With pints becoming so expensive, suddenly having a couple of pints supplemented with a quarter, third of a gram of ketamine is cheaper for a night out.

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And what I think people who are using ketamine need to think about is the money that they're saving in using that.

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They've got to think about what they are harming in terms of their health and is it really worth it?

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I mean, I suppose from a harm reduction perspective, a lot of the chat from services, from government, from policy, from all of these things is about you know stopping drug use and recovering from drug use.

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I think that's really important, but I also think it was really naive to think that we're going to one day live in a world where there is no drug use.

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Uh, people want to use drugs.

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I would be very cross if my coffee was taken away from me each morning.

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I know that's just caffeine, but you know, that is a drug that I use each day.

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And I think that we need to move away from it just being seen as this criminal activity to being treated as a health problem when there's a drug dependency, but to also recognise that we're always going to have recreational drug use.

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And trying to stamp out it entirely is not going to be possible.

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So we need to make drug use safer because it's going to happen.

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And so we need to be providing things like drug checking facilities, overdose prevention centres and things like that.

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Dolphins pass around puffer fish in the sea.

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Amazonian tribes have used ayahuasca.

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Americans have used peyote cactuses for literally centuries.

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Why do we suddenly think now that we're suddenly going to be able to stop that drug use by introducing laws?

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And if you've enjoyed this episode of Believe in People Extra, we'd love for you to share with others who might find it meaningful.

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Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

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And leaving a review will help us reach more people and continue challenging stigma around addiction and recovery.

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For additional resources and to listen to this episode in full, explore the links in this episode description.

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And to learn more about our mission and hear more incredible stories, you can visit us directly at believingpeoplepodcast.com.

Believe in People EXTRA: The Ketamine Reality Check

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