Do

• Pick a good moment. 

Have a chat when they’re sober and you’re somewhere private and relaxed, not in the middle of a party.

• Lead with care. 

Try saying, “I’ve noticed you’re taking ket quite a lot lately, and I’m a bit worried about you.” That’s much more likely to start a conversation than calling them an addict or telling them off.

• Listen. 

Ask them what they think ket does for them. Do they believe it helps them relax, have fun or fit in? Listen without arguing. Understanding why they take it can help you talk about those beliefs together.

Help them see through the trap.

It’s tempting to try to scare someone into stopping, but fear and lectures can backfire. They can make someone feel stressed or defensive, and stress may be one of the reasons they reach for ket in the first place. Making something seem forbidden can sometimes even add to its appeal.

Instead, help them question what they think ket is doing for them. Is it really making their nights better? Do they actually need it to have fun? You could share this booklet with them and let them make up their own mind.

• Do other stuff together. 

Invite them out, make plans and include them in things that don’t involve ket. Show them that your friendship, and having fun together, doesn’t depend on taking anything.

• Point them to help. 

Share this booklet or suggest FRANK, the H23 Foundation or Allen Carr’s Easyway. If they’re experiencing physical symptoms or struggling with their use, encourage them to speak to a GP or local young people’s drug service. You could even offer to go with them.

• Tell a trusted adult.

If you’re seriously worried about your friend, speak to a trusted adult, even if you’re concerned your friend might be annoyed with you. It might feel like you’re grassing them up, but looking out for someone’s safety isn’t betrayal. It’s true friendship.

Don’t

• Use with them to keep them company or “keep an eye on them”.
• Lend them money for ket.
• Keep dangerous secrets, such as them talking about harming themselves.
• Carry it all on your own. Supporting a friend is hard; talk to someone you trust too.

If they’re in danger, call 999. If a friend tells you they’re thinking about ending their life, tell a trusted adult straight away or call Samaritans on 116 123.

Quit Ketamine

Allen Carr’s Easyway doesn’t try to scare you off ketamine. Our focus is on removing the desire to use it, by clearing up the myths that make it seem appealing. But you deserve to know the facts, so here they are.

Your bladder

Ketamine can irritate and damage the lining of your bladder, sometimes within months of regular use. You might find yourself constantly needing the toilet, day and night, experiencing pain when you pee or even passing blood. Some young people lose control of their bladder entirely. In severe cases, the damage is irreversible, and some people have needed surgery to remove their bladder. There is no established safe level of recreational ketamine use.

Your stomach

Ever heard of “K cramps”? These can be agonising stomach pains linked to ketamine use. Some people take more ket to numb the pain, without realising they’re making the problem worse.

Your brain and mood

Ketamine can affect your memory, concentration and mood. It can leave you feeling anxious, low or panicky, and some people experience paranoia, hallucinations or psychosis-like symptoms. Research has also linked long-term, heavy ketamine use to changes in brain structure, including reduced grey matter in areas involved in thinking, emotions and decision-making.

 Your safety

Ketamine affects your coordination, awareness and ability to react. That means a greater risk of falls, burns and accidents. At higher doses, you may be unable to move or speak, leaving you particularly vulnerable to harm or exploitation.

Your future

Ketamine is a Class B drug in the UK. Possession can carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, while supplying it, even sharing it with a friend, can carry up to 14 years. A drug conviction can also affect future opportunities, including certain jobs and international travel. The rules are different for under-18s, but there can still be serious consequences.

Your money

Ket might seem cheap at first, but as tolerance builds, you may need more to get the same effect. What starts as an occasional expense can become a serious drain on your money.

Your life

Schoolwork suffers. Hobbies lose their appeal. Friendships change. Family relationships become strained. Little by little, ket starts taking up more and more of your time, money and attention, pushing aside the things that once mattered to you.

None of this means it’s too late to turn things around. Many people experience significant improvements in their physical and mental health after they stop. Some effects can improve over time, particularly when you stop early. However, severe bladder damage can sometimes be permanent, so getting help sooner really matters.

And whatever you’re experiencing right now, you don’t have to deal with it alone.

You deserve support, not judgement. And a life free from ketamine is absolutely possible.

“The good news? You don’t have to keep taking ket. And you don’t have to spend the rest of your life fighting the urge to take it. Once you understand the trap, you can start to see your way out of it.”

Quit Ketamine

Does ket actually make you more fun?

Think about what ket actually does – It makes you slur, stare, wobble and zone out. At higher doses people can end up in a K-hole, and can’t talk, move or laugh, completely disconnected from the people around them. That isn’t being the life of the party, it’s boring.

Ket can feel friendly at first. That is the trick

We are not going to pretend it feels like nothing at first. Ket can feel warm and easy early on, almost like it is on your side. That is the love-bombing stage, and its only job is to get you onside. But the relationship is not what it seems. Ket is not your friend. It wants control, and the more you use it, the more it keeps you where it wants you, like a parasite feeding off you.

The real fun comes from your friends, the music, the jokes, the place, the night. Ket puts a distance between you and all of that. If you’re having a good time, you want to be fully there for it and remember it the next day. Think about it. You’re taking something to make your night better, yet the more it affects you, the less aware you can become of what’s happening around you and the less you might remember the next day. You’re taking it to enjoy the night, but it can make you miss it.

 Real friends don’t need you numbed

If someone only wants to hang out with you when you’re using, they aren’t really your friend; they just want a using partner. True friends will respect your choice, and many secretly wish they had the confidence to say no too.

You’re not alone in saying no

“It might feel like everyone takes ket. But around 98 out of every 100 young people didn’t use it in the last year.”

Around 98 in every 100 young people aged 16 to 24 in England and Wales did not use ketamine in the last year (ONS). It can feel like “everyone” does it, but that’s not true.

Is ketamine safe?

No, not outside of medical care. Ketamine is used by doctors and vets, so a lot of people assume it must be safe. It is a real medicine. It is a licensed anaesthetic that blocks pain and makes a person feel cut off from their body and surroundings. That is why it is used in surgery and emergency care, and why vets use it to anaesthetise animals, including horses, cats and dogs. It also affects breathing less than many other anaesthetics, which is one reason it is used.

But in hospital it’s given in exact doses, by professionals, with equipment ready to support the patient’s breathing. Even then, ketamine can slow breathing, especially at higher doses or when it’s mixed with alcohol or other depressants. At a party or in someone’s bedroom there’s none of that. You can’t know the dose or exactly what’s in it, and nobody is watching your breathing.

Ketamine is an anaesthetic. It numbs pain and cuts you off from your body, and at higher doses you can lose control of your body.  That’s why it’s dangerous:

1. You may not feel pain properly,  so you can hurt yourself badly without noticing.

2. You can lose control of your body (a K-hole), leaving you unable to move, speak or get help.

3. It can make you vulnerable to being robbed, assaulted or taken advantage of.

4. Mixed with alcohol, benzos or other drugs, it can slow your breathing and heart to dangerous levels. People have died this way after mixing ketamine with other drugs.

5. There is no known safe amount for your bladder. Damage often starts with small signs, like needing to pee more or pain when you pee, and it can become permanent if you carry on.

6. Long-term heavy ketamine use has been linked to loss of grey matter, the part of the brain involved in thinking, emotion and decision-making.

Nobody can tell you a safe amount of street ket, because there isn’t a known one.

Quit Ketamine

Is ketamine addictive?

Yes, it can be. People often say ket isn’t addictive because you don’t get the shakes or sweats when you stop. But addiction isn’t just about physical withdrawal, it’s mostly a  mental addiction. It’s about losing psychological control.

Here’s how the trap works:

1. You take a bump. You feel floaty and switched off for a short while.

2. It usually wears off within an hour. You feel a bit flat, empty or anxious.

3. Another bump seems to fix that feeling. So you take one.

4. Your body gets used to it fast (tolerance), so you need more for the same effect.

5. Before long, the flat, anxious feeling can be there most of the time, and ket seems like the only thing that helps.

What most people don’t realise is that ket can make the very feeling it seems to fix worse. It’s like wearing shoes that are too small, because it feels good to take them off.

Nobody sets out to get hooked. Many people think they’re in control. Ask anyone who uses every day, and they’ll tell you it started with “just at weekends”.

Quit Ketamine

Smokers in Wigan Borough are being offered a new way to quit this Stoptober thanks to a council link-up with a world-renowned support programme.

More than 3,000 residents have already started their smoke-free journey in the past three years with the council’s Be Well Stop Smoking Service.

Now Wigan Council is doubling down on its assistance for those who want to quit by launching another choice for support with stopping smoking: the highly successful drug-free Allen Carr Easyway method.

Combining online videos and live seminars with cognitive behavioural therapy – and endorsed by both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – it works without the need for patches, gums, inhalators, e-cigarettes or any other medications or nicotine substitutes.

Typically costing £379 per person, the programme will now be available FREE to anyone who lives, works, or is registered to a GP in Wigan Borough.

Councillor Keith Cunliffe, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet portfolio holder for adult social care and health, said: “We’ve made real progress towards making Wigan Borough smoke-free in recent years, with a major focus on prevention and achieving our first smoke-free generation.

“But we’re also doing what we can to support those who do smoke to give up for good and to manage or reduce their risk of long-term health conditions including cancer, heart disease, stroke and COPD.

“Everybody is different and the more choice we can offer smokers who want to quit the better. That’s why, in addition to our Be Well Stop Smoking Service and other options such as Quit Coach and the NHS Quit Smoking app, we’re delighted to be introducing the Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking Method (ACE) here in Wigan Borough.

“ACE is well established around the world and has already helped an estimated 50 million people with stopping smoking, vaping and other addictions over the past 40 years.
“It’s been shown to be cost-effective and is easy to do from home, and many people have been able to achieve real results in the space of just a few hours.

“So, we’re excited our residents can now access support from ACE free-of-charge as we continue our efforts to improve the health of our communities and reduce the burden on the NHS.”

Smoking remains one of the biggest causes of preventable illness and death in Wigan Borough, but the number of residents who smoke – around 37,200 or 11.3 per cent of the adult population – has been falling thanks to local support services, legislation and enforcement.

The recent Tobacco and Vapes Act has will make it illegal (from 1st January 2027) to sell tobacco to anyone born on, or after, 1 January 2009, while the council’s ethical advertising policy restricts advertising that harms physical and mental health.

A recent survey by the council’s trading standards team, who take a proactive approach to illegal tobacco sales, found 97 per cent of 14-17-year-olds had never tried smoking at all.

For those adults who do smoke but want to quit, the Be Well Stop Smoking Service provides free personalised support and nicotine replacement therapy, while its digital stop smoking assistant ‘Quit Coach’ offers guidance and encouragement through WhatsApp.

The Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking Method now gives residents another proven support option, with quitters usually achieving results after just five hours of online video or group seminars.
It can be accessed online via smartphones, tablets or laptops, while participants can also receive support from therapists by email or over the phone.

Published studies have found that more than half of those who try ACE remain smoke-free after 12 months.
Paul Baker, CEO of Allen Carr’s Easyway, said “We are delighted to be helping the smokers and smokers & vapers of Wigan to find freedom.

“The unique drug-free and one-seminar approach is highly successful in the long term and works for everyone, whether long-term or short-term smokers, “heavy” or “light” smokers, and for all demographics and backgrounds because it is delivered in simple English and doesn’t focus on the negatives of the nicotine trap.

“Instead, it helps you understand the illusions and misunderstandings that keep you trapped so that you change how you see smoking and vaping such that there is no feeling of deprivation at the end and there is no willpower needed to be free and stay free.”

Anyone interested in stopping smoking with the Allen Carr’s Easyway method can sign up online here.

To learn more about the Be Well Stop Smoking Service or Quit Coach visit bewellwigan.org/stopsmoking

More than 1 million people who have never smoked now vape.

New figures show a striking change in vaping in Great Britain: more than one million people who say they have never smoked now use e-cigarettes. At the same time, cigarette smoking continues to decline and, for the second consecutive year, more people aged 16 and over are vaping than smoking.

The 2025 figures come from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and highlight two different developments. Falling smoking rates represent continuing progress away from cigarettes. At the same time, the growth in vaping among people who have never smoked raises a different question: why are increasing numbers of people taking up vaping without previously smoking?

More than one million never-smokers now vape

According to the ONS 2025 figures, 1.1 million people who have never smoked, or have never smoked regularly, now say they vape either daily or occasionally. This is up from around 940,000 in 2024.

Overall, 5.4 million people aged 16 and over are now vaping, while the number of UK smokers has fallen from 5.3 million in 2024 to 4.9 million in 2025. Smoking is now reported by nearly one in 10 adults.

For the second year running, therefore, vaping among people aged 16 and over in Great Britain is more common than cigarette smoking.

These figures need to be read with an important distinction in mind. The BBC reports that the vaping statistics cover people aged 16 and over in Great Britain, whereas the smoking figures relate to adults across the whole of the UK.

Vaping is rising among 25 to 34-year-olds

The age profile of vaping is also changing. People aged 25 to 34 have overtaken 16 to 24-year-olds as the age group most likely to vape. According to the ONS, 16.4% of 25 to 34-year-olds now use e-cigarettes daily or occasionally.

David Mais of the ONS suggested this could reflect existing users getting older, growing popularity among 25 to 34-year-olds, or a combination of both.

The proportion of people who have never used an e-cigarette also slightly declined, from 83.4% in 2024 to 83.0% in 2025. Meanwhile, 7.2% of people reported using an e-cigarette in 2025, compared with 6.6% in 2024.

HTaken together, the figures suggest that vaping is not simply concentrated among the youngest adults and is increasingly part of the picture across a wider age range.

Smoking rates continue to fall

Alongside rising vaping figures, the ONS data show continued reductions in cigarette smoking.

Young adults aged 18 to 24 recorded the largest decline in smoking of any age group. By contrast, 45 to 54-year-olds had the highest proportion of current smokers in 2025, at 12.4%. Men remained more likely to smoke than women, consistent with previous years.

Among people who still smoked in 2025, half said they intended to quit.

A reader wrote in this week with an important question:

“How do you address the challenges of quitting smoking when you’re also living with diagnosed Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder?”

It is a fair question. Plenty of people are asking themselves the same thing, even if they have never said it out loud.

For many, it is exactly why they keep putting off trying to quit. They believe their cigarette or vape is one of the few things helping them cope, and giving it up feels like giving up support they cannot afford to lose.

Everything below applies just as much to vaping as smoking. Nicotine is nicotine, whatever the delivery device

What the Industry Says

Mainstream quitting support treats a GAD or MDD diagnosis as a reason for more support, not less.

That usually means nicotine replacement or prescription medication, such as varenicline or bupropion, combined with additional counselling. The theory is that people managing anxiety or depression may face a harder quit and a higher relapse risk.

In the US, varenicline and bupropion carried an FDA black box warning for years over possible neuropsychiatric side effects. That warning was removed in 2016 after a major trial of more than 8,000 smokers, half of whom had psychiatric diagnoses, found no significant increase in neuropsychiatric problems compared with placebo.

There is also a reassuring finding in the research: a large analysis pooling more than 100 studies and over 160,000 people found that quitting nicotine is followed by less depression, anxiety, and stress, not more.

What We Say

Ask a room of smokers and vapers why they use nicotine, and you will hear the same product being given completely different jobs.

One person says it calms them down when they are anxious. Another says it is the only thing that gets them through when they are feeling low. Someone else says it makes the good times even better. Another says it gives them something to do when they are bored.

But one product cannot be a relaxant for the anxious person, a lift for the depressed person, and an enhancer for the happy person, all depending on the mood of whoever is using it.

What is happening is the same in every case.

Nicotine leaves the body, and withdrawal adds a fresh layer of anxiety and discomfort on top of whatever the person was already feeling. The next cigarette or vape relieves that layer, and the relief is genuinely felt. That is why it seems to be helping.

But it only cancels out the discomfort the addiction just caused.

It brings the person back to their own normal, not above it.

The Relief Is Real, but the Explanation Is Wrong

We are not dismissing what smoking or vaping feels like it is doing.

The relief is real.

What is wrong is the explanation for it.

Nicotine was never treating the anxiety or the depression. It was only relieving withdrawal from the last hit, while the addiction itself kept feeding the very state it claimed to relieve.

Once that becomes clear, there is nothing left to be afraid of giving up, because the thing being given up was never providing what it seemed to.

That is the core of the seminar.

For most people, it happens in one session. It is the same session whether someone smokes, vapes, uses patches, pouches, lozenges, or a combination. It is not about gritting your teeth and going without. It is about seeing that there was never anything real to go without in the first place.

There is no new medication, and nothing to check against what someone may already be taking for GAD or MDD. The underlying diagnosis stays exactly where it belongs, with the person’s doctor or therapist.

People leave free, with a baseline that is no longer being disturbed by an addiction on top of everything else they are already managing.

Where Both Sides Agree

Whichever route someone takes, the evidence points in the same direction: quitting nicotine eases anxiety and depression rather than worsening them.

The industry gets there with medication and extra counselling.

We get there by showing that the cigarette or vape was never providing the relief it appeared to, and was making things worse the whole time.

What matters most is that someone living with GAD or MDD does not let fear of a harder quit keep them using, because the evidence says the opposite is true.

If you are worried that quitting smoking or vaping will make your anxiety or depression worse, you are not alone.

But nicotine is not your support system.

It is part of the trap.

And once you understand the trap, freedom becomes possible.