The family of The Vivienne have said the drag artist died after using ketamine (Ian West/PA) The family of The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, have said the drag artist died after taking ketamine.
Williams, who won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK under their drag name, was found dead at the age of 32 at their home in Cheshire on January 5.
Their manager and friend Simon Jones said he and Williams’ family felt it was “important to say how James tragically died”, after they reportedly died from a cardiac arrest caused by the anaesthetic ketamine. The Vivienne won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (Danny Lawson/PA) After sharing the cause of death, Jones said he and Williams’ family hoped to work with mental health and addiction service Adferiad to “raise vital awareness and give information on how to get help if you are struggling with ketamine usage”.
Here the PA news agency takes a closer look at ketamine and how popular it is in the UK:
– What is ketamine?
According to the UK national anti-drug advisory service Frank, ketamine is a general anaesthetic that reduces sensations in the body which can make users feel dream-like and detached, chilled, relaxed and happy, but also confused and nauseated.
It can be used for both humans and animals.
The Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust website says ketamine is a licensed anaesthetic drug that can also be used as an “off-label” treatment for depression, because it has not been licensed for use as an antidepressant in the UK.
It says that its brief rapid antidepressant effect has been confirmed in many several clinical trials over the last 20 years.A closely related version, nasal esketamine, is licensed but has not been approved for routine NHS use, mainly because of cost. – Is ketamine illegal in the UK? Ketamine is a class B drug, which means it is illegal to have without a prescription and anyone selling or using it faces a fine or prison sentence.Advisory service Frank said it is also known as ket, special k, super k or vitamin k.The maximum […]
The Vivienne death: What is ketamine and how popular is it in the UK?
