50 The Mail on Sunday^ September 1^ •^2019
STUDENT drug-dealers are making
thousands of pounds a week cash-
ing in on a campus craze for a lethal
cocktail of cocaine and ketamine
known as ‘Calvin Klein’, The Mail
on Sunday can reveal.
Our reporters discovered dealers
earning £4,000 a week selling stu-
dents the powerful sedative keta-
mine illegally obtained from the
internet. Combining the drug with
cocaine ‘wreaks havoc on the
brain’s chemical system and
can greatly impair overall brain
functioning’, according to a web-
site dedicated to the treatment of
ketamine abuse.
The deadly combination was
suspected of causing the death of17-year-old violin prodigy Katya
Tsukanova at her home in Ken-
sington, West London in June
this year.
Oxford University classics stu-
dent Max Mian, 19, and 18-year-
old public schoolgirl Ellie Rowe,
from Glastonbury, Somerset,
also died after taking ketamine.
This newspaper discovered
networks of dealers operatingacross the country each earning thou-
sands of pounds a week by selling the
cocktails to students.
One, 25-year-old ‘Mitch’, a recent
graduate of the University of
Birmingham, boasted that he sold
about £4,000 of ketamine each week-
end and said the popularity of the
‘Calvin Klein’ cocktail had seen sales
rocket.
‘On average, I’m selling 100 bags
across the weekend for £40 a go,’
he said. ‘More and more people want
ket. There’s a massive demand for it.
‘A lot of people take cocaine and
ketamine together.’
He buys the drug off the internet’s
‘dark web’ – a matrix of encrypted
websites – which is posted out to buy-
ers. It’s like buying clothes on Ama-
zon.’
Ian Hamilton, addiction lecturer at
the University of York, said of the
‘Calvin Klein’ combination: ‘Ketamine
is a nasty drug and then there are all
the issues around cocaine, whichstrengthens the impact. This combi-
nation has become more popular in
Britain – mainly because of availabil-
ity.
‘One of the chief dangers is there’s a
timeline in terms of the effects. When
you’re younger you might be tempted
to take more when nothing has hap-
pened in the first few minutes.’
Latest figures show cocaine remains
the second most popular drug among
16- to 24-year-olds, with six per cent
taking the substance over the year –
about 361,000 young people.
Ketamine use for the same group hit
the highest numbers since records
began, showing more than three per
cent took the drug over the year.Student dealers’ £4,000 a
week from selling deadly
‘Calvin Klein’ drug cocktail
By Jake Ryan
TRAGEDY:
17-year-old
Katya’s death
was linked to
drugs crazeS