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BPOM urges ministry to list ketamine as psychotropic
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) records a nationwide increase in sales of injected ketamine, a prescribed substance which can only be administered by medical professionals: From 3,000 vials in 2022 to 152,000 so far in 2024.
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A stock illustration of prescribed injected ketamine. Illicit sales of injectable ketamine have skyrocketed in drugstores across the country, particularly in the popular tourist destination of Bali. (Shutterstock/Darwin Brandis)
T
he Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) has pushed the Health Ministry to include ketamine in the list of psychotropic drugs that would effectively make improper use of the hard drug a criminal offense resulting in jail time.
The agency made the call after it found that illicit sales of injectable ketamine have skyrocketed in drugstores across the country, particularly in the popular tourist destination of Bali.
Ketamine is a drug widely used for anesthetic procedures. It has also recently been prescribed by medical professionals to manage treatment-resistant depression and treating chronic pain, bipolar disorder and anxiety.
However, it also has been utilized as a recreational drug and abused as a date-rape drug to immobilize victims, due to its ability to induce dissociative effects and sedation, as well as cause hallucinations and relaxation, among other effects.
Use of the drug in Indonesia is strictly regulated: People must provide prescriptions from doctors to purchase it and only medical workers are allowed to administer the drug to patients. Yet, there has been an increase of injectable ketamine sales in drugstores nationwide, according to BPOM head Taruna Ikrar.
“Our investigation found that these buyers have been using ketamine as an anesthetic in tattoo shops or as a recreational drug at night clubs,” Taruna said during a press briefing on Friday.
Rising problem
