DRUG RESEARCH USING PEOPLE UNDER QUESTION

Mental health studies test hallucinogen impact

BOSTON -- Medical ethicists are raising objections to a study in which 100
healthy volunteers were given a powerful hallucinogen in an effort by
scientists to better understand mental illness.

In studies conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health, Yale
University and several other places, test subjects took small doses of
ketamine, also known as "Special K" or the "date rape drug."

Scientists conducting the study said volunteers were carefully screened for
mental illness and signed consent forms that warned of side effects such as
hallucinations and mood changes.

But some critics said the risks of the drug are not fully known and
questioned the ethics of inducing psychotic behavior in healthy people.

"The idea of inducing psychosis, in psychology or psychiatry, is the worst
thing that can happen," Carl Tishler, an adjunct professor at Ohio State
University, said yesterday. "If you are a cardiologist, do you induce a
heart attack in someone to see what it's like so you can study it?"

Often used as a prescription surgical anesthetic for people and animals,
the Food and Drug Administration-approved drug can cause mild
hallucinations, confusion and fear with regular use. Severe hallucinations
are possible with large doses.

The drug has been used illegally, mainly by young people who pay $20 to $40
per dose. Nationwide, the drug has been connected to at least one death of
a teen-ager who mixed it with heroin and to numerous sexual assaults. It
has been a target of thefts from veterinary offices and hospitals.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that healthy subjects run the risk of
flashbacks months after using ketamine.

Scientists say ketamine can help unlock the mysteries of mental illness,
especially schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, by giving insight into
hallucinations and mood disorders.

The experiments began in the early 1990s and ended more than a year ago.
They were designed to provoke symptoms of schizophrenia in healthy people
during a one-time exposure, said Dr. Trey Sunderland, chairman of NIMH's
review board.

He said that NIMH volunteers have not complained of side effects.