Ā鶹app

is popular for anesthesia during surgery, but now it's surging in popularity as a breakthrough treatment for depression.

Intravenous ketamine is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for that purpose, but clinics in Huntsville and other parts of Alabama offer it.

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now working to warn and increase awareness of about "Super K" as it is called on the streets.

is garnering more attention now after the death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry.

Alabama native Bradley Franklin is currently undergoing intravenous ketamine therapy for depression. Franklin agreed to share his story with Ā鶹app after several others agreed to do so and later decided otherwise out of fear of judgement.

"It has allowed me to conquer the day-to-day activities, whereas sometimes it felt so daunting and sometimes I couldn't," Franklin shared during an interview with Ā鶹app.

He's receiving intravenous under the supervision of Dr. Harrison Irons at Southern Ketamine and Wellness of Birmingham. According to the company's website, Irons is a double board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management physician.

"Bradley came to me and he had tried a number of things in the past, including medications from various classes, and really wasn't feeling as good as he wanted to," Irons explained.

Harrison told WAAY that ketamine administered in small doses works faster than most other drugs for people battling treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, anxiety and OCD.

Many anesthesiologists administer ketamine for patients during medical procedures such as surgeries. The drug has been allowed for surgical use since the 1970s. Five years ago, the FDA gave a ketamine-like nasal spray Spravato its stamp of approval to assist people experiencing complications with severe depression and the risk of suicide. However, the FDA did not approve intravenous ketamine therapy. Still, over the last decade, nearly a thousand ketamine clinics like Synergy in Huntsville opened up across the United States to offer it.

"With ketamine therapy, even the hardest to treat people we still see a response rate of about 80% remission of symptoms, " Dr. Damon Fierro explained.

Fierro said they primarily administer ketamine for people who need treatment of refractory depression. He also administers the drug for acute pain. For example, he administers a low dose if someone has a fracture or an abscess.

Fierro said intravenous ketamine therapy can spur hallucinations.

"It causes multiple regions of the brain to start firing at the same time, and that's where the vivid thoughts and vivid dreams come from," he added.

He said it often causes painful memories to surface. Ketamine therapy can result in frightening hallucinations, according to Fierro.

"Those hallucinations or vivid dreams occur during the infusion and they will stop 10 to 20 minutes after the infusion is over," he explained.

Fierro saidĀ  the drug is typically not covered unless you're a veteran. Ketamine is approximately $350 per treatment session. Most patients will have significant improvement within six to eight treatments he said.

Over the last 12 months, Fierro treated nearly 1000 patients.

A black market for ketamine exists now on the streets and on the scenes of nightclubs. Other names for the drug include cat tranquillizer, cat valium, jet k, purple, special k, and vitamin k among other names.

"It's imported from other countries, and sometimes it's diverted from veterinary clinics. It maybe even be diverted from hospitals and medical clinics," Fierro explained.

Fierro said they keep ketamine supplies strictly inventoried and locked up to prevent the diversion of the ketamine.

'Friends' actor Matthew Perry died Oct. 28, 2023, from acute effects of anesthetic ketamine according to the County of Los Angeles' Medical Examiner's report. Perry's friends said he received ketamine infusion therapy for depression close to two weeks before he passed, but the autopsy report revealed levels of ketamine in Perry's body similar to the amount of a person preparing for a surgical experience.

"Perry was getting ketamine and abusing it from another source, and we actually use ketamine to help with people who do have addiction,"Ā  Harrison explained.

"It's a class three substance and it has a very low addictive potential, but when put in the wrong hands of someone who's just got a long history of addiction, like Matthew Perry did, unfortunately, it sounds like he presumably ingested ketamine in some way or shape or form, and then decided to go swimming which of course is certainly not advised," Harrison said.

Landon McLain lives and works in the Huntsville area and said he wasn't surprised by Perry's death.

McLain administers ketamine almost daily at McLain Surgical Arts in Huntsville. McLain's is a double board-certified oral & maxillofacial and cosmetic surgeon in Huntsville, according to his company's website.

"The doses I use in the office are what we call ultra low doses or almost micro doses and the potential for over sedation or abuse under medical supervision is extremely low to zero. Any sedative or general anesthetic used without a doctor's supervision can be potentially deadly," McLain said.

The FDA, DEA, and the CDC are all now alarming Americans online about the dangers of ketamine misuse like snorting, smoking, mixing into drinks, or injecting independently. Michael Johnson with the Huntsville Police Department said officers respond to few incidents related to ketamine.

According to the at the , prevalence of past-12 month ketamine use among 12th grade students has been below 2% for the past decade and in 2023 stood at 1%. Since 2002 use has declined in all grades.