Actually, we prescribe controlled substances to recovering addicts all the time. Look at Suboxone or methadone. And yes, even Ketamine shows promise, though still too early to say definitively. This is called replacement therapy.
"Ketamine has been shown to effectively prolong abstinence from alcohol and heroin in detoxified alcoholics and heroin dependent individuals, respectively."
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic drug which acts on the central nervous system chiefly through antagonism of the n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Recently, ketamine has attracted attention as a rapid-acting anti-depressant but other studies have also reported its efficacy in reducing...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The thing is, these are less addictive and dangerous than the drug they're recovering from, so that's the reasoning behind it.
Also, most people who are using drugs are not doing it because of #funtimes. They're doing it to self-medicate. So the question is, self-medicate what? Is another controlled substance helpful in treating the underlying illness or abstain from using the addicted substance?
I keep going back to ADHD because most people are familiar with it. Many cocaine users have underlying ADHD. It used to be that you wouldn't prescribe a stimulant to ANYONE with a cocaine addiction. But that thinking changed and now we know that treating the underlying problem is the key to abstinence. So that may also be applied to Ketamine (I don't prescribe Ketamine, so I'll say MOO here).
I don't think this case is as black and white as it may seem right now. I might eat those words later if it turns out these were drug dealers who happened to be doctors. But doctors are sometimes villianized because the media doesn't understand the treatment protocols. MOO. It's not intuitive, certainly and before I read the research, I would have reacted the same way.
I'll be very interested to see how this case unfolds.
Links provided to stimulant treatment for cocaine abusers just to justify what I said above.
"Substitution pharmacotherapy is an effective approach for treating opioid and nicotine dependence, and accumulating evidence indicates that stimulant pharmacotherapy for cocaine dependence is a promising strategy."
Cocaine dependence continues to be a significant public health problem and no clearly effective pharmacotherapy has yet been identified. Substitution pharmacotherapy is an effective approach for treating opioid and nicotine dependence, and accumulating ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"While stimulant medications have the potential for abuse and must be used cautiously in patients with substance use disorders, the available evidence suggests that stimulant medications administered under monitored conditions can be safe and effective in patients with substance use disorders."
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common co-occurring mental disorder among patients with substance use disorders (SUD). Clinicians must be cognizant of the complicated nature of diagnosis and treatment of ADHD when comorbid with SUD. ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Effective treatment modalities tend to prioritize management of substance abuse, but the patient’s age may dictate the overall assessment plan.
www.mdedge.com
