Research Intern Cohen Children's Medical Center Fairfax Station, Virginia, United States
Background: Ketamine, a dissociative drug that creates a euphoric feeling, is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. Administration methods include snorting, smoking, and intravenous injection. Ketamine abuse can result in overdose, depression, abnormal liver function, and death. TikTok is a social media platform with children aged 10-19 as its largest demographic. Objective: This study examines ketamine-related content on TikTok for the purpose of educating pediatricians on teen usage, and perception. Design/Methods: The top TikTok videos labeled with #ket, #ket@mine, #horsetranq, #horsetranquilizer, #tranq, and #specialK were collected. The following data was recorded: 1) video creator age; 2) perceived creator gender; 3) meme status; 4) party culture reference; 5) ability to control usage; 7) references to mental health; 8) active intoxication. Creator age and control of usage was either self-reported, or estimated by the coders. A meme was defined as any post that emulates a circulating audio or visual format trend (see fig 1). Only videos created by creators younger than 22, or in meme format with anonymous age, were analyzed. Descriptive analyses were conducted in Python. Results: A total of 115 videos were analyzed (5,265,638 views). The age range of videos was: 17% (n=20) minors, 66% (n=76) college aged, and 17% (n=19) anonymous. Gender distribution was roughly equal for minors, 50% (n=10) male, 45% (n=9) female, and 5% (n=1) nonbinary; but more skewed for college-aged creators, 74% (n=56) female, and 26% (n=2 0) male. 22 analyzed videos (1,160,910 views) referenced mental health: 31% (n=7) depression, 14% (n=3) anxiety, 50% (n=11) unspecified, 5% (n=1) borderline personality disorder. Of the 115 videos, 86 (4,189,916 views) were memes, 29 videos (1,108,637 views) referenced party culture, 36 videos (1,980,325 views) referenced inability to control use, and 34 videos (949,943 views) showed ketamine or an actively intoxicated individual (see Table 1).
Conclusion(s): Ketamine abuse presents a serious risk to all youth. Results indicate increased risk for college-aged women, who comprise the majority of posts. Additionally, TikTok’s algorithm prompts additional ketamine videos to users who have viewed one, falsely normalizing ketamine. The playful nature of ketamine memes underscores the severity of this highly addictive drug. Perceived normalization mixed with playfulness facilitates a slippery slope towards addiction. Therefore, there is a strong need for medical providers to discuss the dangers of ketamine with their patients.
