Stacey Dooley: Down the K Hole review – the weird tale of how you can order ketamine quicker than pizza — SkimNews
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- "Down the K Hole" embeds Stacey Dooley at Acorn Recovery Projects in Stockport for four months, following ketamine users in recovery and their families.
- The documentary cites a 20% increase in UK admissions involving ketamine use since 2023, framing the drug as the recreational choice of under-24s.
- Acorn resident Jensen, who used ketamine almost daily for eight years, says users can order "pizza and ket" and the drug arrives first, with £40–50 buying 7g.
- Admissions manager Mel at Acorn describes clients arriving with "ket bladder" — in agony, urinating blood and pieces of breaking-down organ tissue, prompting staff to buy sanitary briefs for 19-year-old men.
- Liam, awaiting bladder reconstruction surgery, tells the film he would still be using ketamine if not for the physical damage, a dependency driven in part by the death of his mother.
- The Guardian review criticizes Dooley's approach as empathetic but analytically thin, arguing she documents the wreckage without drilling into why some users become dependent while most do not.
Why it matters: With UK ketamine admissions up 20% since 2023 and 7g available for £40–50 via same-day delivery — faster than pizza, per a featured user — the documentary offers rare visible access to the drug's physical toll, yet the review's central critique is that it catalogues ruin without examining the psychology of dependence, leaving a fast-growing public health question essentially unanswered on screen.
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