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What Ketamine analogues exist?
Q: Ketamine is one of the more powerful, profound, and intense psychedelic experiences available to the interested psychonaut, yet this drug seems to be an atypical psychedelic. Are there any analogues of ketamine with similiar psychedelic value? I've heard of MK-801 and some veterinary dissociative aneasthetic that are supposedly similar. What about S(+)-ketamine? Anyone working on Arylcyclohexylamines i Have Known And Loved ?

A: Ketamine is definately not typical of psychedelics. Many people would not consider it a psychedelic at all, and consider the dissociatives to be a completely different class of drugs. There are a good number of dissociatives.



As you mentioned, Ketamine is an arylcyclohexylamine. There are quite a few other drugs in this chemical family. The veterinary anesthetic you've heard of is tiletamine, which is perhaps the closest of the arylcyclohexylamines to ketamine. Tiletamine is a scheduled drug in the US, and is only available in a combination drug caled Telazol which contains tiletamine and the benzodiazepine drug zolazepam. The best known arylcyclohexylamine is of course PCP. There are also a handful of PCP analogues such as PCE and TCP. The effects of all the arylcyclohexylamines are very similar, differing mainly in intensity and duration. We have heard a few reports of experimental use of Tiletamine.



There are also dissociatives which are not chemically related to Ketamine and PCP. The best known of these is dextromethorphan (DXM), which is chemically an opiate of the morphinan subfamily. In spite of being an opiate, it works on the same neurotransmitter receptors as ketamine, the NMDA receptors.



Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas, whippets) also acts on the NMDA receptors, and produces effects which some people compare to ketamine. However, the effects are very short.



MK-801 (dizocilpine) is another NMDA antagonist, but its effects do not appear to be similar to those of Ketamine. It is primarily used in neurochemistry research.



We haven't heard of any research developing or studying new psychoactive Ketamine analogues.


Asked By : Indole
Answered By : murple
Published Date : 2 / 22 / 2001
Last Edited Date : 2 / 22 / 2001
Question ID : 2351

Categories: [ Ketamine ]



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