Sydney Cobb Nicole Cardoza Sydney Cobb Nicole Cardoza

Stop the use of ketamine in arrests.

Happy Monday!

We're kicking off the week with an urgent call-to-action. Today, Sydney from the Justice for Elijah McClain advocacy group shares more about the dangers of ketamine, and how we can make a difference TODAY by contacting local officials. I urge you to take part. You can read more about Elijah McClain in a previous newsletter.

Thank you all for your contributions. To support our work, you can give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or subscribe for $5/mo on our Patreon.

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

  • Call or email to demand a temporary ban on the use of ketamine in Aurora, Colorado, is put in place until at least 30 days after Elijah McClain’s case is complete. A council meeting to discuss the ban will be held on September 14, 2020, at 7:30 p.m.

  • Sign and share the Justice for Elijah petition to hold the officers and paramedics accountable for his death.

  • If you have been injected with ketamine, or have used ketamine as an EMT or paramedic in partnership with law enforcement? Share your story in this survey.

GET EDUCATED

By Sydney Cobb (she/her)

Ketamine is commonly used as an anesthetic in hospitals and veterinary clinics. It is typically regarded as safe if the proper dosage is administered, but it can have severe and lethal side effects in certain situations. Ketamine blocks pain receptors in the brain, often leading to people either falling unconscious or entering a trancelike state (The Cut). Emergency medical workers often use ketamine in order to subdue suspects at the scene of an arrest if they appear to be “violently agitated” or uncooperative. 

 

Paramedics and first responders often describe suspects as “violently agitated” in order to justify their unnecessary use of sedatives. Ketamine is meant to subdue someone who is actively resisting arrest, but paramedics and first responders have frequently misused it. There are many cases in which suspects have been rendered helpless, with their hands cuffed behind their backs, yet they are injected with ketamine for illegitimate reasons. In some cases, it is believed that police officers involve themselves in the decision of whether or not to administer ketamine at the scene of an arrest (The Denver Post). 

 

For example, Joseph Baker, a former Minnesota paramedic, recently spoke out against the use of ketamine for law enforcement purposes. Baker filed a whistleblower lawsuit in which he claimed that police officers attempted to coerce him into administering ketamine during an arrest. In an interview, Baker stated that the man being arrested clearly had a mental health illness and was not resisting arrest enough to justify the use of a sedative. After refusing to comply with the officers’ wishes, Baker felt that he was practically being pushed out of his job. Throughout the lawsuit, Baker emphasized that the relationship between police officers and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers has allowed officers to feel comfortable using coercive tactics to encourage paramedics to administer ketamine (The Intercept). 

 

Unfortunately, Elijah McClain’s entanglement with the Aurora Police Department is one of many arrests that ended in unwarranted sedation. Max Johnson, a diabetic Black man from Minneapolis, is yet another example of how the use of ketamine can have dangerous effects. On July 26, 2020, Johnson began having a seizure as a result of low blood sugar. Abby Wulfing, Johnson’s girlfriend, called 911 and informed the dispatcher that Johnson was seizing, prompting them to send Emergency Medical Service (EMS) workers to evaluate the situation. Wulfing says that the EMS responders seemed to believe that Johnson’s seizures were caused by illegal drugs, even after she had explained the actual cause. 

 

After continuously questioning Max’s sobriety, they began to physically restrain him and call the police for backup. After 7 minutes of pleading with the EMS workers to administer glucagon to combat Johnson’s low blood sugar, they finally obliged. Following the glucagon, the workers injected Johnson with 500 milligrams of ketamine. Wulfing stated that there was no need to inject Johnson with ketamine because he was already in a calm, post-seizure state once the EMS workers arrived. The dosage of ketamine put Johnson in a hospital intensive care unit on a ventilator for two days. Wulfing believes that the treatment Johnson received from the EMS workers was heavily influenced by the fact that he is a Black man (Star Tribune). 

 

Both McClain and Johnson were unnecessarily injected with ketamine and endured severe health complications as a result. A sedative was not necessary in either case, considering that both men were following police orders and remaining calm in highly stressful situations. While McClain and Johnson’s cases are entirely separate, the parallels between the two are not anomalous; they indicate a larger issue with the unwarranted use of ketamine injections. 

 

For decades, law enforcement has labeled people of color as ‘aggressive’ and ‘uncooperative’ in order to justify their unnecessary use of force. While ketamine is not a form of physical force, it can have similar or worse effects on one’s well-being. McClain and Johnson are only two examples of how police officers and paramedics unjustifiably use sedatives that ultimately lead to severe health complications. 

 

It is imperative that we hold police departments and EMS workers accountable for misusing ketamine as a tool of brutality on ALL people, but specifically people of color. We cannot allow officers to further perpetuate the notion that Black people are disobliging and aggressive with law enforcement.

Key Takeaways

  • The symbiotic relationship between police officers and paramedics can lead to officers feeling comfortable with coercing paramedics into administering ketamine, therefore putting more people at risk of experiencing the harmful side effects of the sedative.

  • While the use of ketamine for law enforcement purposes is not limited to people of color, it is yet another way that police are wrongly labeling them as “aggressive” and “agitated.”

  • The use of ketamine is usually not necessary or justified.

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