Since 2020, ketamine therapy has been the only thing that effectively treats Mark’s complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), a mental condition akin to PTSD that, in Mark's case, stems from childhood developmental trauma. When Mark, a 73-year-old who worked in finance before retiring, learned that his provider was under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and would no longer be prescribing the anesthetic drug, he feared he wouldn’t be able to get another prescription before his symptoms became debilitating. He was already out of the country in Mexico stretching his supply until he got back, and soon, his depression began to set in again.
“The only ketamine I could have gotten, had I pursued it at the time, would have been black market ketamine,” Mark, who is using his first name only to protect his privacy, told Salon in a phone interview. “I didn’t have a backup antidepressant, and I was terrified.”
