First NHS club drug clinic opens its doors

Abstract

The number of people experiencing problems after taking club drugs such as ketamine and mephedrone is rising, says the founder of the first NHS clinic in the United Kingdom set up specifically to tackle the issue. The Club Drug Clinic in west London opened its doors this week to deal with problems associated with excessive use of drugs such as ketamine, mephedrone, GHB (γ-hydroxybutyric acid) and GBL (γ-butyrolactone), crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy, and the growing number of “legal highs.” The founders of the clinic say that current drug services primarily focus on crack cocaine and heroin use, which is actually in decline. Owen Bowden-Jones, a consultant psychiatrist at Imperial College London and a founder of the clinic, said, “Patterns of drug use in the UK are changing, and over the last two or three years we have continued to see an increase in …