Police are investigating the burglary of 20 vials of ketamine
““ enough to sedate about 250 children ““ taken from a
UCLA pediatric dentistry clinic earlier this month.
School of Dentistry Professor John Yagiela, who reported the
burglary, said each of the 20 vials taken contained 500 milligrams
of ketamine. Yagiela said the ketamine is kept at the clinic
because it is used as an anesthetic.
Children at the clinic receive a dose of 2.5 milligrams per
kilogram, which translates to approximately a 40 milligram dose for
a typical child.
Yagiela, who works in the division of diagnostic and surgical
sciences at the school of dentistry, said the ketamine at the
clinic is usually kept locked inside a cabinet ““ in an office
that is also locked.
According to police reports, the ketamine was removed from the
clinic between Aug. 27 and Sep. 3. Yagiela said the clinic staff
noticed the vials were missing on Sep. 3, and after running an
inventory that day, the staff contacted the hospital pharmaceutical
services and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
University police were notified this past week through hospital
pharmaceutical services, and UCPD spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein said
that though police are investigating the case, it is a difficult
process because the crime was an isolated incident reported
“after the fact.”
Yagiela said there was no indication of who could have taken the
ketamine because for a short period of time while the clinic staff
is accessing the medication, the room is unlocked.
Yagiela said in addition to staff and faculty, parents and
others with children could have been in the clinic at the time the
burglary occurred.
Greenstein said UCPD has a lead officer who is in charge of
working with UCLA hospitals, and the department is working to
prevent future thefts.
Yagiela and other sources at the dental school said though the
burglary was an atypical occurrence, security has always been a
priority.
“We’ve never had it happen before,” Yagiela
said. “We’re going to try to take some pains to make
sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Among other measures to increase the level of security, Yagiela
said the clinic staff plans on changing the locking mechanism of
the room that holds the ketamine, as well as eliminating all but
one of the keys that can access the room.
These measures were suggested by a pharmacist sent to review the
clinic’s security after the crime occurred, he added.
Ketamine comes in several forms and can impair people’s
motor skills and cause dizziness or confusion. According to the
DEA, high dosages of ketamine can lead to a feeling that is termed
“K-hole” ““ an “outer-body” or
“near-death” experience.
According to brochures produced by the Santa Monica-UCLA Rape
Treatment Center, ketamine is sometimes used to sedate and
incapacitate people for the purpose of sexually assaulting
them.
Ed Smith, who works for Narconon, a residential drug
rehabilitation center in Southern California, said ketamine can
easily be used in “date rape” situations because of the
nature of the drug.
“It’s used as a date rape drug because it’s a
tranquilizer,” he said. “If it comes in a clear liquid;
you can easily put it in somebody’s drink and you
wouldn’t even know it.”
Yagiela said the ketamine stolen from the clinic was in liquid
form, which can be put into drinks or injected, and Greenstein said
ketamine, known as “Special K,” is also used by
partygoers.