VETERINARIANS BEING TARGETED FOR DRUG

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The craze over one of the hottest new party drugs
became evident at Dr. Fred Mishrikey's animal clinic last week, when armed
robbers bound and gagged him and his wife and demanded his supply of
"Special K."

Officials say the robbery is part of a nationwide trend as a growing number
of drug users seek out a substance that produces a euphoric high but is
able to tranquilize a horse with a dose of less than a half-ounce.

"The whole veterinarian community is scared. I'm a prisoner in my own
office," said Philadelphia veterinarian Dr. Raj Khare, 66, who was robbed
in June.

Chemically similar to PCP, ketamine hydrochloride can be smoked, inhaled
like cocaine or added to drinks for a hallucinogenic high. A single dose of
the drug -- known on the street as Special K or Cat Valium -- sells for
$20. Fatal in high doses, ketamine is also considered one of the
"date-rape" drugs because it can cause users to fall into a stupor.

"It's been abused for a number of years, but with the club scene, it's
becoming more popular," said Jude McKenna, a special agent with the Drug
Enforcement Administration in Philadelphia.

Although there are no national statistics on the theft of ketamine from
animal clinics, burglaries are becoming commonplace.

In Allentown, Pa., four people were arrested for allegedly threatening to
firebomb a veterinary practice unless they were given ketamine. In Arvada,
Colo., thieves looking for ketamine allegedly broke into two animal clinics
in one night. In Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, thieves posing as
vet clinic workers sought to "borrow" vials of ketamine from other clinics.

Philadelphia police believe the same theft ring is responsible for four
recent veterinarian robberies. Two suspects were arrested this week, and
police were seeking two others, Capt. Patrick Dempsey said.

Mishrikey's assailants entered his clinic with their dog and told him the
poodle had diarrhea. But after following Mishrikey and the dog into the
examination room, the two thieves allegedly threatened him with a gun and
demanded to know where he kept his supply of ketamine.

Then they bound Mishrikey to a chair with duct tape and taped his mouth
shut, doing the same to his wife.

"We're sorry, we never meant to hurt you. God bless you," the intruders
reportedly told the frightened couple before running out of the office with
17 bottles of Telazol, a lookalike drug they mistook for ketamine. Miriam
Mishrikey used a letter opener to free herself and ran across the street to
dial 911.

"I didn't care if I died. Everybody dies. But I was concerned about my baby
boy, who is in high school," said Mishrikey, 63.

After the robbery, the couple began wearing panic buttons around their
necks that can summon police at a moment's notice.

Other Philadelphia veterinarians have taken security measures as well,
installing surveillance cameras and burglar alarms, keeping doors locked
even during business hours and refusing to accept walk-ins.

"It sickens me that it's also used as a street drug and that apparently now
veterinarians have become the target of drug dealers," said Dr. Ronald
Kraft, an official with the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association who
was one of about 70 vets gathered in suburban Philadelphia on Wednesday to
discuss the threat.

From 1994 to 1999, the drug was associated with 67 deaths in 40 cities
surveyed by the Druge Abuse Warning Network. Emergency room visits in those
same cities increased from 19 in 1994 to 396 in 1999.

The drug can result in permanent brain damage and slow the heart rate to
the point of death. It can also cause convulsions, especially when taken in
large dosages, and vomiting when mixed with alcohol.

McKenna, the DEA agent, said he is especially bothered that people are
mixing "Special K" with other drugs such as Ecstasy.

"It's called polydrugging," he said. "They're mixing all these drugs
together, and at any time any one of these drugs can kill you."