ARRESTS UP FOR KETAMINE SMUGGLING AT BORDER

Veterinary Drug Easily Bought In Mexico Illegal For Human Use

SAN YSIDRO - Suddenly, the floodgates seem to have opened, and a popular
drug simply called "K" on the street is flowing across the international
border here.

In recent months, authorities at the port of entry have reported dozens of
arrests and hundreds of seized vials of liquid K - a general anesthetic for
veterinary use more formally known as ketamine, which, when snorted or
injected, produces hallucinatory, demobilizing and trancelike stupors
called "K-holes."

Evidence of the drug's popularity was apparent last weekend when San Diego
police made four arrests and seized 100 vials of ketamine after U.S.
Customs Service officials detained people trying to smuggle the substance -
cheaply sold over the counter in Mexico - into the United States.

"This is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg," said San Diego police
narcotics Detective J.C. Smith. "We have no idea how much of this stuff is
getting through undetected."

Officials with the Sheriff's Department and other county law agencies say
the drug has been detected in downtown San Diego and along the North Coast,
particularly at nightclubs and after-hours establishments. Four men were
arrested on suspicion of possession and distribution of ketamine Dec. 19 at
Club Velvet on the Del Mar Fairgrounds

"We are encountering it more and more at rave parties and nightclubs," said
San Diego police narcotics Detective Ed Fletes. "The pace has really picked
up in the last six months."

Ketamine received some note after Demetrius DuBose, the former pro football
player, was fatally shot by police in Mission Beach on July 24.

In the aftermath of the controversial incident, which brought angry
demonstrations and protests over the police use of deadly force from some
members of the African-American community, it was revealed that DuBose had
ketamine along with cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time. DuBose
also was facing charges of driving under the influence of ketamine earlier
in the year.

The drug, in liquid form, has little or no smell, looks like water and is
sometimes smuggled across the border in water bottles - usually in plain
sight, authorities said.

Some carriers are not trying to hide the drug, keeping it on the front seat
of cars as they check through customs.

"They either don't know it is against the law or believe if they are caught
they will simply give up the drug and maybe get a ticket or warning," said
Smith.

Not so.

Ketamine was designated a controlled substance in August. This increased
penalties for people caught using or smuggling it. In many cases, the crime
is being prosecuted as a felony instead of a misdemeanor. Fines in
California can top $100,000, with up to seven years in prison for sales.

The Drug Enforcement Administration pushed for the new designation after
incidence of ketamine abuse was found to be increasing at rave parties,
schools, college campuses and night clubs, said DEA spokesman Terry Parham.

"The growing abuse, and reports of ketamine-related hospital emergency room
episodes, became of grave concern to the DEA," Parham said.

Area authorities believe it is no coincidence that the increased smuggling
of the drug from Mexico parallels the increase in penalties.

The drug can be purchased for as little as $10 a milliliter at Mexican
veterinary clinics and sold in the United States - when converted to a
powered snortable form - for as much as $100 a gram, authorities said.

Smugglers are making big money with the drug.

One San Diego man has been arrested twice in the past three months trying
to smuggle liquid ketamine across the border stashed in car dashboards,
police said.

San Diego police narcotics Detective Mark Gain said ages of those arrested
for smuggling and use over the past several months ranged from 15 to 30.

U.S. Customs spokesman Vince Bond confirmed that ketamine-linked arrests
are on the rise at the San Ysidro port.

"We are arresting more people and seizing more of the drug," said Bond.

The first nine months of last year, San Ysidro's U.S. Customs staff
arrested only 16 people and seized 18,552 milliliters of ketamine. From
October to Jan. 11, there already have been 43 arrests and 8,800 mililiters
seized, Bond said.

"The drug is not meant for human consumption," said Bond. "We have people
who are trying to bring it across the border by declaring it to our agents,
so we confiscate it."

These people aren't regarded as hard-core smugglers but are trying only to
bring ketamine across the border for personal use. The drug is taken away
and, in most cases, there is no prosecution.

However, people possessing large quantities of the drug are subject to
arrest by San Diego police or customs agents, Bond said.

Until recently, ketamine sold on the streets by dealers is believed to have
largely come from legitimate supplies in the United States, primarily
through theft from veterinary clinics and hospitals.

In the United States, it is legal through prescription and is approved by
the Food and Drug Administration as an anesthetic. Its primary use is as an
animal tranquilizer.

Now, the border appears to be the ketamine hot spot.

In New Hampshire, authorities have been concerned over a recent string of
brazen drug-related burglaries at veterinary hospitals. An armed robbery
occurred at one hospital.

The thief didn't want money. He wanted the K.

Since August, New Hampshire has seen more than a dozen veterinary clinic
break-ins. Maine reports the same number over the past two years. The
growing popularity of ketamine has turned the veterinary clinics into targets.

"It's like being a bank teller," said New Hampshire state veterinarian
Clifford McGinnis. "It's got to be quite a shock to have somebody come in
with a gun and ask for something."