Police forces record a substantial increase in offences involving ketamine, a veterinary tranquilliser increasingly used as an illegal party drug, according to Home Office figures reported by outlets covering the issue. The Home Office data show forces recorded 1,845 offences of possessing ketamine in 2025-26.
That figure is up 151% compared with 735 offences recorded in 2020-21. The reports describe ketamine as overtaking other drugs such as “speed” in popularity based on the growing number of possession-related offences recorded by police. The reporting focuses on seizure and offence trends, but the sources provided here emphasize the same underlying statistics rather than offering different interpretations of the cause or any confirmed changes in use patterns among the public.
Overall, the outlets agree on the direction and scale of the increase shown in the Home Office figures, while details on broader trends—such as how usage rates compare across drugs or the number of arrests versus charges—are not elaborated beyond the offence counts cited.
