Jeni Larmour died aged 18 on her first night at Newcastle University after taking ketamine given to her by a flatmate. The architecture and urban planning student from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, flew into Newcastle from Belfast on 2nd October 2020, and just hours later consumed a fatal combination of the drug and alcohol.
Since her tragic death, Jeni’s mum, Sandra Larmour, has appealed to have ketamine reclassified as a Class A drug and has expressed this should be ‘urgently approved’.
Currently, ketamine is classified as a Class B drug, having been upgraded from Class C in 2014 due to the increase in evidence of harmful physical and psychological effects. The push for a reclassification of ketamine to Class A follows record levels of illegal ketamine use.
In her support for reclassifying the drug and thereby increasing the maximum sentence, Sandra stated:
‘The dangers of ketamine are real, and those involved in the supply need to be dealt with accordingly’.
Sandra works with the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, named after 16 year-old Daniel Spargo-Mabbs who died after taking ecstasy at a rave in 2014, to educate children and young people on the risks and dangers of taking drugs.
Spurred on in her campaign by the memory of the daughter she lost, Sandra says ‘I have said previously in my requests for reclassification, please do not let Jeni's death fall into the statistics of our country'. An urgent finally plea from a mother, to discern that her daughter's death has not been in vain.
According to the Home Office, the government is currently seeking expert advice on reclassifying the drug, meaning it will be aligned with other class A substances such as cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.
Despite its prevalence on the party scene as a hallucinogenic, ketamine can lead to harmful side effects on the bladder and kidneys. The drug can also induce psychosis and cause neurological damage, and can be lethal when mixed with alcohol.
The maximum prison sentence for producing and supplying ketamine is 14 years in prison, which a reclassification would raise to a life sentence.