Ketamine History :

Ketamine was developed by Dr. Craig Newlands of Wayne State University. It was then developed by Parke-Davis in 1962 as part of an effort to find a safer anesthetic alternative to phencyclidine (PCP), which was more likely to cause hallucinations, neurotoxicity and seizures. The drug was first given to American soldiers during the Vietnam War. It is still widely used in humans. There may be some evidence that ketamine has the potential to cause emergence phenomena because of the drug's possible psychotomimetic effects.[citation needed] It is also used widely in veterinary medicine, or as a battlefield anesthetic in developing nations.

Ketamine's side effects eventually made it a popular dissociative in 1965. The drug was used in psychiatric and other academic research through the 1970s, culminating in 1978 with the publishing of John Lilly's The Scientist and Marcia Moore and Howard Alltounian's Journeys into the Bright World, which documented the unusual phenomenology of ketamine intoxication.

The incidence of recreational ketamine use increased through the end of the century, especially in the context of raves and other parties. The increase in illicit use prompted ketamine's placement in Schedule III of the United States Controlled Substance Act in August 1999. In the United Kingdom, it became outlawed and labeled a Class C drug on January 1, 2006. In Canada ketamine is classified as a Schedule I narcotic, as of August 2005. In Hong Kong, as of year 2000, ketamine is regulated under Schedule 1 of Hong Kong Chapter 134 Dangerous Drugs Ordinance. It can only be used legally by health professionals, for university research purposes, or with a physician's prescription.