Young Brits risking lives with new 'rhino ket' drug featured in Kneecap song
Young Brits are risking their lives over a deadly "Rhino Ket" drug featured in a song by rap group Kneecap, health chiefs have warned.
Health officials in Scotland have warned that use of the drug, a turbo-charged version of Ketamine mixed with amphetamines, is highly dangerous. The substance was famously featured in one of the Irish group's most famous anthems, simply titled 'Rhino Ket' and has parents worried it may be influencing their children.
But usage has climbed over the last several years before the group released their song describing the drug that "makes you forget".
Officials have monitored an explosion in usage of the drug since it entered the supply chain several years ago, with reports noting it has become increasingly prevalent. In a recent report, Public Health Scotland (PHS) Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) identified Rhino Ket as a fast emerging trend.
The report warns that police are increasingly encountering mentions of the drug, and that it is one of several potentially deadly emerging trends.
The RADAR report states: ''Rhino ket' is terminology the police have been encountering more frequently. This term is sometimes used to describe a mixture of ketamine and amphetamine, which are taken together to increase the effects.' The term entered the music world with Kneecap's 2024 song of the same name, in which the rappers speak about "sittin here sober like a d**k".
The lyrics continue: 'Recently I heard a secret, there's this thing called Rhinoceros Ket. When you take a line it makes you forget (Sounds great). Bally up and lets rob a vet (Sweet)'. It goes on: 'Can't sit, can't think, can barely even walk, dunno how the f*** we'll make it back to Falls.
"I'm K-Holed off my head, this s*** puts Rhinos to bed.' Parents have recently started discovering the drug through their children, with one mum saying she found out about the substance after her teen son came home claiming he had been spiked.
Speaking to the Daily Record, the unnamed parent said the 16-year-old returned home after getting "in a state one night" saying someone "had given him Rhino Ket". She said: 'He got in a state one night and could hardly talk when he got home. His face was bashed and he said someone had given him rhino ket, which was new to me.
"We found out that it's ketamine mixed with amphetamine and it's hugely dangerous." Another ketamine-based drug combination known as Calvin Klein - a narcotics cocktail combining cocaine and ketamine - has also raised alarm bells, with almost 20 alerts issued regarding the comvination last year.
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