Make Ketamine a Class A drug before more families lose their loved ones
The Issue
My sister Gabbi was 31 years old when she died. She was funny, smart, beautiful, talented and had so much about her.
She worked as a chef, she was a musician, she was incredibly sociable and a complete and utter foodie. She absolutely loved her coffee, and she’d always be trying new ways to make it and asking us to try them. She grew up in a close-knit, loving family who spent most of their Saturday nights together. Our parents worked hard, provided for us, and loved their kids deeply.
The reason I’m telling you all of this about Gabbi is because I really want to highlight that my sister wasn’t someone who fit the typical stereotype of an “addict”, and many people who use Ketamine don’t either at first. That doesn't mean over time that they won't though.
We’re still waiting for the final coroner's report to tell us her official cause of death, but we know that Ketamine played a significant role in her deteriorating health. It destroyed her health piece by piece, and there was hardly any help available.
In her last year, she couldn’t eat the food she loved or even walk to the bus stop without being crippled in pain. She was five foot nine and weighed less than seven stone. The only thing that seemed to ease her agony was the very drug causing her harm. I want to stop any other family having to watch someone so full of life become a shell of themselves.
Right now, the Home Office has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review whether ketamine should be reclassified as a Class A drug. That review is happening this year.
Now is our chance to make sure the Government listens to the families who’ve already lost someone.
What I’m asking for
Reclassify ketamine as a Class A drug.
Make supply and dealing harder. Make possession carry real consequences. Send a clear signal that this isn’t a harmless substance.
Education and awareness.
Every school and parent should know what this drug really does — the long-term damage it causes to the body, not just the risk of overdose. Gabbi wanted to be part of that education.
Better support for people who are already addicted.
There’s almost nothing out there. Rehab spaces are limited, expensive, or not designed for ketamine users. That has to change.
The Facts
Gabbi’s story isn’t a one-off. Across England, more and more families are facing the same nightmare.
- In 2023–24, 3,609 adults started treatment specifically for ketamine problems — more than eight times the number from ten years ago.
- An anonymised 2023 survey of more than 13,000 secondary school children from 185 schools across England reported 11% of 15-year-olds had been offered ketamine at some point.
- And according to King’s College London, the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University (2025), deaths involving illicit ketamine have increased twenty-fold since 2014, driven by its low cost — £15–£30 a gram compared to £80 for cocaine — and polydrug use.
Despite everything she went through, Gabbi never gave up hope. She told us that when she got better, she wanted to go into secondary schools and talk to children about her experience so they could understand what ketamine really does and stop them ending up where she did.
Unfortunately, she died before she could do this and so I'm taking up the cause to honour her.
Please sign and share this petition today to help make Ketamine a Class A drug.
4,737
The Issue
My sister Gabbi was 31 years old when she died. She was funny, smart, beautiful, talented and had so much about her.
She worked as a chef, she was a musician, she was incredibly sociable and a complete and utter foodie. She absolutely loved her coffee, and she’d always be trying new ways to make it and asking us to try them. She grew up in a close-knit, loving family who spent most of their Saturday nights together. Our parents worked hard, provided for us, and loved their kids deeply.
The reason I’m telling you all of this about Gabbi is because I really want to highlight that my sister wasn’t someone who fit the typical stereotype of an “addict”, and many people who use Ketamine don’t either at first. That doesn't mean over time that they won't though.
We’re still waiting for the final coroner's report to tell us her official cause of death, but we know that Ketamine played a significant role in her deteriorating health. It destroyed her health piece by piece, and there was hardly any help available.
In her last year, she couldn’t eat the food she loved or even walk to the bus stop without being crippled in pain. She was five foot nine and weighed less than seven stone. The only thing that seemed to ease her agony was the very drug causing her harm. I want to stop any other family having to watch someone so full of life become a shell of themselves.
Right now, the Home Office has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review whether ketamine should be reclassified as a Class A drug. That review is happening this year.
Now is our chance to make sure the Government listens to the families who’ve already lost someone.
What I’m asking for
Reclassify ketamine as a Class A drug.
Make supply and dealing harder. Make possession carry real consequences. Send a clear signal that this isn’t a harmless substance.
Education and awareness.
Every school and parent should know what this drug really does — the long-term damage it causes to the body, not just the risk of overdose. Gabbi wanted to be part of that education.
Better support for people who are already addicted.
There’s almost nothing out there. Rehab spaces are limited, expensive, or not designed for ketamine users. That has to change.
The Facts
Gabbi’s story isn’t a one-off. Across England, more and more families are facing the same nightmare.
- In 2023–24, 3,609 adults started treatment specifically for ketamine problems — more than eight times the number from ten years ago.
- An anonymised 2023 survey of more than 13,000 secondary school children from 185 schools across England reported 11% of 15-year-olds had been offered ketamine at some point.
- And according to King’s College London, the University of Hertfordshire and Manchester Metropolitan University (2025), deaths involving illicit ketamine have increased twenty-fold since 2014, driven by its low cost — £15–£30 a gram compared to £80 for cocaine — and polydrug use.
Despite everything she went through, Gabbi never gave up hope. She told us that when she got better, she wanted to go into secondary schools and talk to children about her experience so they could understand what ketamine really does and stop them ending up where she did.
Unfortunately, she died before she could do this and so I'm taking up the cause to honour her.
Please sign and share this petition today to help make Ketamine a Class A drug.
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Petition created on 15 November 2025