KETAMINE RECOVERY
With ketamine use on the rise, we asked these clean and sober individuals to share their experience with the drug, what led to their recovery and what life is like now
BY PAULO MURILLO
ON REPEAT
“I got into ketamine after friends told me about its benefits for mental health and physical disability. I struggled with my mental health and physical aches for a long time. When I tried it for the first time, I went back to that friend’s house, and we did seven grams, all in one sitting. It kind of just went from there, doing seven grams almost every day of the week… K kind of felt like a song that was on repeat. I just couldn’t stop…Today I feel present in my life. I was able to help a friend create a safe space to be able to talk about our addiction and bring awareness, because it’s a big epidemic now. I feel like a lot of people need to be aware that people are dying because they are mixing K with other drugs, especially alcohol. I had to take steps in my life to be able to be stable and just be an adult. Now I can wake up early and meditate and go to a job interview and go to 12-step meetings and go to class, and it feels really good.”
—Serenity Moore, sober since July 31, 2024.
CHOOSE LIFE
“I’ve been fighting to get recovered since 2019. I had sobriety for six years, and I lost my brother and my partner in the same year, and I relapsed. When I relapsed, someone introduced me to meth and k and g. I did those three drugs basically and it was awful. I was just at the end of my rope. I was at an all-time low, and it was either going to be my death, or I was going to choose life, and I chose my life. My truth today is I have integrity. My word is my word. That’s what I get out of recovery. I have a sense of family. I get a sense of inclusiveness to my community, directly, my gay community… Today I am the best version of myself.”
—Reese Allbritton, sober since October 12, 2024.
JUST TIME
“I was in a really bad breakup and my friend offered me some ketamine. That started a whole downward spiral. I was high from sunup to sundown for about three months. I developed a tolerance but then it very quickly made me lose all sense of reality… They say it helps with depression, but it really pushes it away, and then it comes back, and you need more ketamine, at least in my experience. My breaking point is I became homeless on-and-off for like two years. Coke and ketamine were primarily my drugs of choice. I got tired of being homeless. I knew it was only a matter of time before I moved on to different drugs that would cause more damage, so I decided that it was just time to go into rehab. Now I’m able to manage my life. I’m able to handle stuff like appointments, paying bills. I pay my rent at my sober living now… Today I can say things are a lot better.”
—Benjamin Campos, sober since September 16, 2024.
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