On the streets it's known as Special K.  But this is no breakfast cereal. 

Special K, Kenny Gee, Cat Vallium, K and Vitamin K are just a few of the names ketamine hides behind. 

But behind the mask, there is nothing attractive about ketamine, say local authorities.  It is nothing less than a dangerous drug. 

The RCMP, Vernon School District and the Interior Health Authority are hoping to spread more awareness among today's youth on ketamine. 

The drug is not as readily available in the community as marijuana or cocaine, for example.  But it does surface every so often at parties, bars and other social scenes. 

"It's started popping up a bit more," said Jered Dennis, a youth urban outreach counsellor with IHA's alcohol and drug services. 

"From the youth I've talked with, it's readily available at parties. 

"I don't see ketamine as being an epidemic, but it's a substance that people aren't aware of and so they're not aware of what the potential side effects and risks are," said Dennis. 

Ketamine is legally a dissociative anesthetic used mainly in veterinarian medicine.  For example it's used to tranquilize cats for surgery. 

But in humans, its side effects have made it a popular psychedelic. 

At high doses, users may experience what is coined the "k-hole," where the real world seems distant and they are not aware of their surroundings- almost a sedative feeling. 

It's this feeling that has ketamine used in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. 

Because under the influence a person can become unconscious or unable to move, they may be unable to respond to an attack. 

Like GHB or Rohypnol ( commonly known as date rape drugs ), ketamine is known to be slipped into victim's drinks and since it is odourless and tasteless, it cannot be detected. 

Doug Rogers, Vernon School District's substance abuse prevention counsellor, offers this warning: "Don't leave your drink unattended, don't drink out of the punch bowl and don't take a drink from someone."

Rogers said he is hearing more about the use of ketamine in the community and among students, whether it is being taken intentionally or not. 

"When I start hearing about it here that's when I know it's bad and, 'Hey, we've got to do something.'"

A major concern is that in high doses, ketamine can be fatal. 

"It's the kind of thing that if you take too much your heart goes to sleep," said Rogers. 

Dennis adds that it takes very little to overdose on ketamine. 

"Someone who does cocaine may try it but since they're used to more ( snorting bigger lines ) they may figure they need more to get high."

But the more they take, the higher their chance of overdose is as ketamine is stronger than the same amount of say speed or coke. 

An even greater concern about ketamine, and all drugs, is that no one really knows what they're getting. 

"You don't know what's in it or what it's mixed with," said Sheri Bentley, the RCMP's school liaison officer. 

This can be particularly dangerous among adolescents, at the age of testing and thrill seeking. 

If youth aren't educated, they won't realize that the effect of the drug they're taking is not the effect they intended on having. 

"I've heard of it being sold as E ( ecstasy ) in capsules.  People thinking that they're taking E and all of a sudden becoming comatose," said Dennis, who also warned that it can be particularly dangerous drug when combined with downers, such as alcohol. 

Ketamine is also relatively cheap at approximately $5 to $10 for what's termed a 'bump.'

"When there's a lot of it out there, it's cheap," said Rogers. 

"That's what makes it so accessible to almost everyone."

Another attractive side to the drug is that it's not detectable by odour. 

"Parents don't think their kids are under the influence of anything because they don't smell it," said Shannon McCarthy, with IHA's alcohol and drug services. 

"They use it similarly to alcohol in that they get intoxicated and they don't get caught but the risk of overdose is so much greater," said McCarthy.