Doctors in Hong Kong have reported that the “widely abused” club drug Ketamine, also known as Special K, can causes problem with the bladder and throughout the urinary tract. (Note: they encountered 57 patients over an 8 year period. Since this was a study based on patients presenting to the hospital, there is no way that they controlled for other factors. Also, if it is so widely “abused” one has to wonder why more patients with these symptoms haven’t presented.)
Here’s the part to remember: “Street-ketamine abuse is not only a drug problem but might be associated with a serious urological condition causing a significant burden to healthcare resources,” Dr. Peggy Sau-Kwan Chu and colleagues write in the medical journal BJU International.
Expect to hear that logic more. Hong Kong has socialized medicine. As socialized medicine spreads, control of our behavior will be increasingly premised on costs to the public fisc and the strain on limited resources. How far will it go? After all, is it fair for you to eat that fried chicken when I might have to pay for your bypass surgery?
