Pain Specialist Links Ketamine to Less Drug Misuse

A Pain Clinician's Report Ties Ketamine Therapy to Lower Substance Misuse

A commentary published August 8, 2026 on National Law Review, credited to Dr. Olumuyiwa Bamgbade of Salem Pain Clinic in Canada, states that ketamine therapy used for pain management can also reduce substance misuse. The published summary does not include a study design, sample size, journal citation, or peer-review status, so readers should treat this as a clinician's professional commentary rather than a confirmed clinical trial result.

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that, at sub-anesthetic doses, is used off-label or through specialized clinics to treat chronic pain conditions and, separately, treatment-resistant depression. It works primarily by blocking the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor, a brain and spinal cord receptor involved in pain signaling, central sensitization, and some aspects of craving and reward circuitry. That shared mechanism is the biological basis for why researchers and clinicians have long asked whether ketamine's pain-relieving effects might also influence substance use patterns in the same patients.

Why the Pain-Substance Misuse Link Is Plausible, and Why It Needs More Evidence

Chronic pain and substance misuse are frequently connected in clinical practice, most often through long-term opioid prescribing, where patients develop tolerance, dependence, or misuse patterns while trying to manage unrelieved pain. If ketamine can meaningfully reduce pain scores, it could, in theory, lower a patient's reliance on opioids or other substances used to cope with pain, an effect sometimes described in the literature as an 'opioid-sparing' benefit. Separately, small studies on ketamine for substance use disorders (particularly alcohol and cocaine use) have reported reductions in craving, which is a distinct research thread from ketamine's use in pain clinics.

What the National Law Review piece appears to do is connect these two areas, pain relief and reduced substance misuse, through one clinician's practice observations. That connection is biologically plausible given ketamine's known pharmacology, but plausibility is not the same as proof. Without details on how substance misuse was measured, over what time period, and in what patient population, readers can't yet judge whether this reflects a formal clinical finding, a case series, or a clinical impression shared in a commentary format. National Law Review is a legal-industry publication rather than a peer-reviewed medical journal, which further suggests this piece functions as an expert commentary or syndicated client alert rather than original clinical research reporting.

What Ketamine Clinics Actually Do for Pain Today

Regardless of the substance-misuse question, ketamine is already used clinically for several pain-related indications, including complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain, and some cases of treatment-resistant chronic pain, typically administered as IV infusions, intramuscular injections, or compounded lozenges in monitored clinical settings. Esketamine (brand name Spravato), a related nasal spray formulation, is FDA-approved specifically for treatment-resistant depression, not chronic pain, so patients should not assume pain-clinic ketamine protocols and Spravato are interchangeable.

What This Means for Readers Considering Ketamine for Pain

If you live with chronic pain and are weighing ketamine therapy, this report is worth noting but not worth acting on alone. Before choosing a clinic or protocol, ask providers to explain their specific evidence base, whether findings come from published trials, internal case data, or general clinical experience, and how outcomes like pain reduction and substance use are tracked. A credible pain clinic should be transparent about dosing route (IV, IM, or sublingual), session frequency, monitoring protocols for blood pressure and dissociative side effects, and how they screen for and manage co-occurring substance use history.

For readers with a personal or family history of substance misuse, disclosing that history to any ketamine provider is a practical safety step, not just a formality, it should shape monitoring frequency, dosing decisions, and follow-up care regardless of whether ketamine ultimately helps or has no effect on misuse patterns. Cost and insurance coverage also remain relevant: most ketamine-for-pain protocols are still delivered outside standard insurance coverage in many regions, so ask about per-session pricing and total expected treatment course length before starting.

Ketamine Resource will continue tracking research and clinical reporting on ketamine's role in pain management and its potential relationship to substance use, and will update readers as more rigorously documented studies, ideally peer-reviewed and with clear methodology, become available.