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Several countries are lobbying to have the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) re-schedule ketamine as a controlled substance with international scope. Make sure you know what it could mean for you!
The move would effectively prohibit ketamine's use in both veterinary and human medicine in a number of countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) is petitioning against the proposal as it will significantly undermine the ability to provide cost effective anesthesia and analgesia in various parts of the world. If it does move forward, every aspect of ketamine production would have a mandated compliance and regulatory protocol attached to it. This would:
- Reduce the supply - because increased costs would cause some manufacturers to leave the market
- Result in a restriction of its use to essentially experimental settings as it would be scheduled with drugs such as LSD.
Ketamine is already a controlled substance in some countries and the initiative to prevent rescheduling would not over-ride national control. Should the motion to reschedule the drug move forward, however, we are concerned that it would result in additional restrictions on access to it. It could effectively remove it from veterinary use. We believe this to be even more of an issue in human healthcare as ketamine is often the only anesthetic/analgesic available in developing countries. A loss of access would have a significantly negative impact on human welfare.
The WSAVA Global Pain Council (GPC) has developed the following statement that the WSAVA Executive Board fully endorses. It defines our position and we will use it as part of our awareness campaign:
Access to anesthetic and analgesic drugs is imperative for the mitigation of animal suffering and the WSAVA's Global Pain Council was created to address inequalities in both education and access to analgesic/anesthetic modalities in differing regions of the world. In some regions, ketamine is the only analgesic/anesthetic agent available to the veterinary profession and is essential to enable veterinarians to perform their day-to-day activities in an ethical and humane manner. Restrictions on its use would have a significant and negative impact on animal welfare on a global scale. As such, the WSAVA and its Global Pain Council lend their support to the Ketamine Fact Sheet and efforts to halt any initiatives that seek to have it rescheduled.
Fortunately, thanks to the vocal lobbying by WSAVA and a number of other veterinary and human associations, the motion was withdrawn at the recent CND meeting but it is likely to re-occur.
Please let the WSAVA Secretariat know of your opposition to this proposal and we will add your voice to the growing global small animal veterinary voice opposing this initiative.
Thank you in advance for supporting the WSAVA's global community in lobbying for the ability to care properly for the animals we treat!
More information is available on the Ketamine Fact Sheet: