At an economy and place overview and scrutiny committee meeting at Bodlondeb, councillors discussed a report on the use of ketamine.
The committee was tasked with debating and noting work on a report by the Community Safety Partnership, with an additional item tabled for discussion around ketamine use amongst children and young people.
The report drew upon information centred around an annual crime audit.
Powerful anaesthetic
Ketamine is a powerful anaesthetic that can be fatal – with alcohol often being a precursor to the drug.
The drug can also leave takers incapacitated and is associated with several serious long-term health problems, particularly around kidney, liver, and bladder problems.
The drug is relatively cheap and can be bought online.
Councillors were asked to comment on the partnership work and specifically on ketamine use and young people so future action plans can be put in place.
Earlier this year, Abergele councillor Paul Luckock submitted a scrutiny topic form to raise the subject for debate, to help councillors understand how ketamine is traded and used by Conwy’s children.Cllr Luckock said he wanted to fully understand the scale of risk to children locally, by engaging with the full range of agencies involved.
Police operation
At the meeting this week, councillors heard how North Wales Police had carried out an operation with ‘high-visibility patrols’ in Colwyn Bay and Abergele to try to deter ketamine use.
Cllr Luckock explained he believed that ketamine was sold for its proper use, but somehow ‘leakage’ was occurring onto the streets.
“What happens is that product then gets into the community, and there are often sales of this product through Instagram, Snapchat, and the like,” he said.
“That is the route that this drug arrives at your child. What I do not understand is why we can’t be much more proactive in both the supervision of that trading line, but also disrupting it and interfering with it all the time in a sense.
“We know how it arrives in the community. We know how children get hold of it. But we don’t seem to be able to call the social media companies to account.
“We don’t seem to call the legitimate purchasers to account. We don’t seem to be able to call to account the supply chain from the producer to those legitimate companies, and we don’t seem to call into account the producer of the product.”
He added: “I know some of that is UK Government level, Welsh Government level, but in terms of North Wales Police and North Wales’ other public bodies, we need to be, in my view, much more proactive on that trail of trading.”
Cllr Luckock said he had a meeting with his MP in February, claiming it was about reassuring the public that all public bodies were proactive.
'Complicated'
Speaking on behalf of North Wales Police, Chief Inspector David Cust said the picture was ‘a lot more complicated’.
“If you look at it nationally, we struggle with heroin, cocaine, so drugs are brought into this country illegally, and that will go for ketamine as well,” he said.
“We haven’t got just legitimate sources leaking ketamine to dealers. Ketamine is a horse tranquilizer. It is used in the veterinary trade, and what we have seen nationally is burglaries at vets where they are targeting the ketamine. But it is in this system illegally as well as through legitimate means, so it is very difficult for us to look at that picture and find out where it is coming from, so it is a complex picture.”
The chief inspector described an incident in which ketamine had been mixed ‘horribly’ with alcohol causing two children to overdose on Colwyn Bay beach.
Chief Insp Cust added that social media companies based overseas were more difficult for police to deal with.
He also said it wasn’t about arresting children caught with the drug but about understanding why they were doing it so they could be helped.
He then revealed drug dealers had been caught near Colwyn Bay’s Bayview Centre and were now on remand, which had helped stop distribution.
Cllr Luckock said many of the children using were out of school and out of ‘the gaze’ and that agencies needed to be more proactive in contacting them.
The report said there had been 94 referrals over 12 months to Barnardo’s to support children and young people with substance use from Conwy and Denbighshire:
- 36 of the 94 referrals included ketamine use (37.5%)
- Of those 36, 26 were from the Conwy area. (72%)
- 13 of the 26 were for “stand alone” ketamine
In Conwy in 2024, ketamine accounts for 18% of drug referrals in children and young people compared to just 5% for alcohol and 36% for cannabis.
Fatalities and health issues
A section of the report compiled by the Youth Justice Service and North Wales Police said, as well as causing fatalities, the drug was associated with several long-term serious health issues.
“There is growing concern nationally about the use of ketamine by children and young people, and there is evidence that use among young people in Conwy and Denbighshire is growing.
“Ketamine is a powerful pharmaceutical anaesthetic, but used recreationally, and excessively, it can cause significant, even severe, damage to the bladder, kidneys, and other elements of the urinary system. What is causing particular concern is that, in some cases, where the use of this drug has been frequent and regular, this damage is not reversible.”
Awareness campaign
Councillors were told a general awareness campaign for ketamine abuse had targeted children with leaflets sent to Conwy secondary schools in July.
Chief Insp Cust urged both councillors and the public to inform the police if they had information, citing numerous ways of contacting them through 999, 101, Crimestoppers, and on North Wales Police’s social media channels.
The committee backed the report. From...https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/24814252.use-highly-dangerous-drug-ketamine-children-rise-conwy/
This has been going on for years!
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