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I applaud your restraint for not calling ketamine a "date rape" drug in the headline . . . you made it all the way to the sub-heading. What a joke.

I'm all for investigating poor patient outcomes, and misuse of chemical restraint is a real risk for EMS and law enforcement worth examining, but this is a hit-piece against a medication with an impeccable safety record in a situation the author clearly has no experience with.

You're more concerned about the drug's reputation than the abuse and misuse of this drug on actual PEOPLE for non medical reasons? For reasons that amount to abuse of power? Human being drugged without consent to unconsciousness on orders of the police doesn't bother you?

I think @MedialApproach has a valid point. As an RN I have seen Ketamine used to help people from sometimes harming themselves. Every drug has risks and medical professionals try their hardest not to harm anyone.

Cops should not be telling medical professionals to administer drugs, of any kind for any reason.

Order? No. But if they do not think they can safely restrain the patient physically, they can ask if I will provide chemical restraint. I don't have to agree, but we work together on an unsafe scene to control otherwise out-of-control people in the safest way possible.

Again, I'm all for investigating whether LEOs have been over-stepping their role and *pressuring* paramedics to sedate. Likewise, it's worth looking into whether there is indication creep, with EMS using ketamine on patients who are not severely agitated or in excited delirium.

... But none of this has anything to do with ketamine itself. There's no need to present it as "a date rape drug." At high doses it's a dissociative anesthetic—a medication that has been used for decades, and which might be the safest anesthetic in the world. Why blame the med?

Unsurprisingly, most of the comments on the story support the police sedating “those people.”

You ever try to subdue a person who OD’d on insulin? Heroin? Cocaine? Steroids? Alcohol? May be hurting family members and have no idea what they’re doing? No? Then maybe don’t second guess. Those people can be crazy violent.

Never mind. I looked at your profile... you’ve never done anything close to what I asked. Enjoy your utopia where there are no bad guys or violent people... except cops... I would bet that you think all cops are violent....