The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
When relationships hit a rocky patch, couples usually try to fix things by taking a break, going on more date nights or even attending therapy.
But lovers are increasingly turning to ketamine — more famous for being a party drug than a love potion — to bring themselves closer together.
The powerful sedative is a Schedule III controlled substance in the US, but a legal loophole allows for it to be used off-label as long as a licensed medic is present.
This has allowed it to be deployed as a novel therapy to help people battle depression and PTSD in major cities like New York City, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and SeattleBut now couples like Jay Godfrey, 43, and his wife of 17 years Dara, 40, are using the drug with the hope that its ability to regenerate brain connections can strengthen their connection to each other.
Jay and Dara Godfrey, pictured above and who live in New York City, used ketamine to help strengthen their marriage of 17 years. They say it helped bring them even closer together
The couple, who live in Chelsea, Manhattan, met back in 2004 in New York City when a friend set them up on a blind date at a sushi bar.
They hit it off immediately, drawn to each other’s sense of adventure and love of music and reading — as well as learning that they had grown up five minutes away from each other in Toronto, Canada, but had never met.
Eighteen months later they were engaged, and later married by the sea in Miami, Florida, and took a honeymoon to Bali before settling in New York City, where they now have two young girls, aged 13 and 11, and a cat.
But the pair decided they wanted to strengthen their relationship, after noticing themselves putting on a show on social media.
‘It felt great in the moment, posting, but it did not feel genuine and it did not feel the best way for us to connect. It wasn’t personal, it was for other people’s pleasure, not our own.’
Then Jay, who was struggling with insecurities, said he wanted to try ketamine therapy after reading up on the health benefits.
His wife said she would come along too.
Ketamine works by blocking a receptor for the neurotransmitter glutamate in the brain, causing it to build up to high levels.
When this happens, synapses in the brain — which form connections between cells — become more plastic and can easily be remodeled or there is a higher chance of new connections being formed.
Dr Jeffrey Ditzell, who runs a clinic administering the drug in downtown New York, says that when people use the drug it allows them to dissociate and view emotionally charged situations from a neutral standpoint.
The couple received ketamine intravenously every week for six weeks at a clinic on the Upper East Side. Shown above is the clinic that Jay founded, Nushama, in Midtown Manhattan
