Liam Payne loss of life fuels Brits’ ketamine craze as customers double and three UK hotspots discovered
Almost 25 tons of ketamine was gobbled up in England in 2024, up from 10.6 tons the year before. And it is now more popular than heroin with user hotspots in Wakefield, Liverpool and Norwich
Brits are going crazy for ketamine with use of the drug doubling last year. It comes as partygoers create new designer drug cocktails using the horse sedative.
Almost 25 tons of ketamine was gobbled up in England in 2024, up from 10.6 tons the year before. And it is now more popular than heroin with user hotspots in Wakefield, Liverpool and Norwich.
The shocking stats come from new Home Office data. They will form part of an annual threat report from the National Crime Agency – dubbed Britain’s FBI – next week.
Experts believe the trend is being driven by so-called “pink cocaine” – a mix of ketamine and other drugs – as well as “Calvin Klein” or “CK”, which combines ketamine and cocaine. Tragic 1D star Liam Payne took pink cocaine before falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina last October.
The cocktails are particularly risky as they can be laced with strong doses of narcotics like fentanyl. Just last month, Dr Peter McCann, of Castle Craig rehab clinic, said using several drugs together could often mask the dangerous effects of one.
He added grimly: “Some people have heart attacks, some have strokes.” The Home Office data is the most accurate portrait of drug-taking Britain.
Samples were taken from wastewater over three years at 18 plants across England and Scotland. Covering a quarter of the population, the water was then analysed by scientists from Imperial College London.
Previous drug use estimates were based on less accurate recorded crimes and drug surveys. The data showed cocaine use is up by 10%, with almost 100 tons taken in England alone last year, up from 88 tons in 2023.
Liverpool and Newcastle were the heaviest users and use peaked in London during Christmas, the Euros and the Eurovision Song Contest. The experts estimated that the amount snorted last year had an estimated street value of £7.7 billion – almost double the NCA’s previous estimate.
Over the same period, heroin consumption dropped by 11 per cent, with the highest rates in Liverpool and Birmingham.
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