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 Prefacio del libro
SINCE TRIS BOOK first went to press at the end of the year 2000, the realization that ketamine is a fascinating substance has spread rapidly through several spheres. These include academic research, the dance culture, anesthesia and emergency medicine, psychonaut pioneers, and many others. This generated an unexpected demand for the book, and supplies were soon exhausted. We now find ourselves heading toward the second printing to meet the demand for Ketamine: Dreams and Realities, even though the book was rarely for sale in bookstores and never had a distributor.
An important reason for the wider interest in this book may have been that it addresses considerably more than just ketamine: its scope includes fundamental questions about the nature of the psychedelic experience, drug-induced spirituality, and the near-death experience, while also addressing more practical issues, such as the true nature of 'drug-induced psychosis,' and the forces which drive drug dependence (and how to defeat them).
Ketamine was invented in 1962. By late 2000, there were about 6,500 papers in the Medline/PubMed database about ketamine. Just three years later, there are 8,400 papers - an increase of almost 30. This is mostly the result of a massive revival of interest in ketamine by anaesthetists, emergency doctors, and pain specialists, due to the excellent safety profile of the drug. Relatively few countries have chosen to follow the USA and Australia into making ketamine a controlled drug, although the World Health Organization / United Nations is continuing to mull the question.
However, despite this avalanche of papers appearing since 2000, there are few truly new findings that require a mention. Many of the 'new' publications are covering old ground. So while 1 was originally planning an entirely new book called Ketamine Reconsidered, I have decided to wait until there have been more important advances and changes.
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