VETS BECOMING TARGET OF RAVE DRUGGIES

Veterinarians are being warned to beware drug-crazed ravers known as
"k-heads" looking for supplies of an animal anesthetic known on the street
as Special K.

Dr. Dominic Leung, head of the B.C. Medical Veterinarians Association, says
they have put out an alert after several recent attempts to steal the drug
ketamine hydrochloride, a powerful tranquillizer sometimes known as cat valium.

"And there have been some break-ins -- some veterinarians have put bars on
their windows," said Leung.

He said he knew about them because members called to express concern it
might happen to others.

"I guess some people have figured out that veterinarians have drugs that
are being sold on the street," Leung said.

He said the drug, which was once used as an anesthetic in burn cases, is
now usually restricted to animals because of its hallucinogenic effects.

"It left people with permanent nightmares," Leung said.

Const. Scott Rintoul of the RCMP's drug awareness section said ketamine is
being sold falsely as ecstasy but is developing a following of its own.

"It is known on the street as Special K," Rintoul said."We're seeing more
and more of it at raves."

A chemical cousin of PCP, or angel dust, ketamine comes in liquid form that
can be baked into an off-white powder to be snorted. A single dose of the
drug sells for about $20.

The drug causes a euphoric experience that users call the "K-hole" because
people often cannot remember their actions while they are high.

It has also been used as a date rape drug, slipped into the drink of an
unsuspecting victim.

But ketamine can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high
blood pressure and fatal respiratory problems -- particularly when mixed
with other drugs in what is known as poly-drugging.

It has been blamed for more than 60 deaths in the United States in the past
five years.

Police in the U.S. are noticing an alarmingly violent trend as k-heads
resort to armed robbery to get the drug.

Fred Mishrikey, a vet in Philadelphia, was robbed by men who brought in a
poodle supposedly needing treatment for diarrhea and then produced guns,
demanding ketamine.

In Pennsylvania, four people were arrested for allegedly threatening to
firebomb a veterinary practice unless they were given the drug.