A recovering addict has shared how ketamine left him in constant agony, passing blood clots and with serious bladder damage. Joel Booker, now 31, began taking the drug at just 14 and spiralled into daily use almost immediately.
He had grown up in a difficult environment and used ketamine as a way to escape trauma and instability. But as he got older, addiction tightened its grip.
He continued to work in construction but the physical consequences of his drug use were deeply debilitating, including needing the toilet repeatedly throughout the day and night. At his worst, Joel was taking around 14 grams of ketamine a day.
“I started using every single day from the age of 14,” he said. “The pain was every day, all day, non-stop.”
He further shared: “I was crying in the shower, screaming for my mum. I just wanted to die.
“I didn’t want to live like that.” Ketamine use among young people in the UK has surged over the last decade.
Figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that in 2012-13, around 52,000 people aged 16 to 24 were using – but by 2022-23 that figure had risen to 222,000. Joel eventually got help from The Kenward Trust, in Yalding, Kent.
When he arrived, he weighed just under 7st (46kg) and said the first two weeks were among the hardest of his life. He suffered severe pain, little sleep and hallucinations.
But over time, staff helped him stabilise and he began to confront the personal issues behind his addiction. “Kenward has taught me a lot of things,” he said, adding that the programme gave him discipline, helped him understand the causes of addiction and showed him how to manage triggers without returning to drugs.
Now sober for one year, six months and 24 days – 570 days in total – Joel said recovery remains a daily commitment rather than a finished journey. “You can never be over something you’ve been doing most of your life,” he added.
“I owe Kenward Trust my life.” Joel, who now lives in supported accommodation, plans to volunteer for the charity and use his own experiences to help others.
He is just one of thousands of people who Kenward has helped. The charity provides rehab, supported housing, and recovery programmes for adults dealing with drug and alcohol dependency, trauma, homelessness and complex needs.
It is marking 30 years of offering youth services and works in schools and communities to reach young people at the earliest opportunity. Kenward Trust’s registered manager Mark Holmes said one of the most rewarding parts of the job was seeing residents rebuild their lives.
“To see a man or a woman come in here who cannot even lift their foot off the floor, then later see them with their family, playing football with their kids and back in life in the community – that is what Kenward does,” he said.
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