Ketamine’s Growing Shadow: Florida’s Medical Examiners Sound the Alarm

Ketamine Emerging as a New Concern in Florida

Florida’s medical examiners are raising a red flag: ketamine is increasingly showing up in death investigations. Once confined largely to club scenes, this sedative—and emerging mental health treatment—is now linked to a growing number of fatalities.

By the Numbers: Rising Presence in Postmortem Reports

• 33 deaths in Miami-Dade County during the first half of 2025 involved ketamine detected in toxicology screens.

• Statewide analysts report a broader uptick in ketamine-related deaths, noting its dual role as both a therapeutic depression treatment and a recreational party drug.

This trend signals a shift in where and how ketamine is impacting Floridians—no longer just in nightlife, but creeping into medical and mental health contexts too.

What’s Fueling the Trend?

Ketamine’s expanding footprint isn’t just about clubs:

• It’s increasingly used off-label for depression, raising its accessibility—and potentially its misuse—beyond traditional settings.

• Despite tighter monitoring of opioids, emerging substances like ketamine are moving into focus—and the medical examiner community is seeing more evidence of its lethality.

Florida in Context: Is This Part of a Broader Shift?

While ketamine is rising in prominence, overall overdose trends in Florida are more nuanced:

• In 2023, Florida saw a nearly 10% drop in fatal overdoses—from 35.2 to 31.7 per 100,000—mirroring national declines.

• Yet, these improvements largely stem from gains in opioid interventions, especially around naloxone access. New threats like ketamine represent a different front in substance-related harm.

Florida’s most recent data points to a pressing shift: ketamine is emerging as a notable cause-of-death factor, with dozens already recorded in just one county. While Florida’s progress on opioid overdoses is encouraging, ketamine and other new substances may fly under the radar. It’s time for medical, mental health, and public safety systems to broaden their focus beyond their typical suspects.