Children as young as 13 are destroying their bladders with cheap ketamine, Liverpool NHS clinic warns

From the Newshound archive · first published 23 September 2026 · last updated 24 September 2026.

Doctors at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool have treated more than 100 children for ketamine-related bladder damage since the UK's first dedicated clinic opened in May 2025. Patients as young as 13 have described the pain as "peeing a jellyfish" and "weeing over broken glass." The typical patient is 14 years old; two thirds are girls, and almost three quarters had experienced childhood emotional trauma, driving them to use ketamine — available at "pocket-money prices" — to ease their distress. Some children began using the drug to numb the very bladder pain it had caused, locking them into what doctors call a 'K loop.'

During the first quarter of 2026, Border Force made record seizures of ketamine totalling 1,298kg — the highest quarterly figure in 15 years.

About two thirds of patients at the Liverpool clinic came from the most deprived communities, and one in five had spent time in the care system.

Long-term damage can result in permanent incontinence or kidney failure, and some children have already been left unable to go to school.