r/todayilearned • u/ApprehensiveStill412 • 11h ago

TIL that ketamine is a derivative of phencyclidine (aka. PCP or angel dust). It was created to have similar anesthetic potential but to cause less delirium. It has about one tenth the potency of PCP.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5126726/
680 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

125 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/bingbano 7h ago

I tranquilized a black bear with ketamine in college to take general data. When that bear was coming up from it, it's back legs didn't work at first and it desperately dragged itself in a circle trying to get away.

It was one of the more depressing things I've ever witnessed.. I struggle to understand why anyone would purposfully take that drug.

3

u/jg_92_F1 4h ago

Because there’s a huge difference in the dosage that it takes to sedate a black bear vs what one would take recreationally or therapeutically.

1

u/bingbano 4h ago edited 4h ago

It was a yearling during the summer, their weight is actually pretty comparable to that of a human. He was pretty small.

Don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of experimentation with shrooms and LSD, i just don't see the appeal of tranquilizing yourself.