Joshua Bassett on how bad his ketamine addiction got

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]I didn't know you were addicted to ketamine. Uh-huh. So, when was that?

[00:00:03]Yeah, that was probably Was that Was that before you knew me? No. No, that was well after I knew you, yeah.

[00:00:10]>> That's Yeah, no, I mean, I think I think that to be honest, like you could say ketamine um You called it ketamine?

[00:00:16]>> No, no, I did. I did. But I'm what I'm saying is that I also talk about how it was a whack-a-mole. Like it was anything to make me numb at any given time.

[00:00:24]Whatever was the most effective in that moment at at sort of putting me at ease, quote unquote.

[00:00:29]>> you were drawing your ATM maximum from your Yeah. And and and and giving it to a drug dealer at the same time every day.

[00:00:37]>> Every single day. Yeah. It got It got to a point, you know, and I think that's that's the thing about um a lot of drugs is that they're they're they can be fun and enjoyable for a little while, but um you know, you can very easily, you know, what happens is you have a good time and then now you're at a deficit, a dopamine deficit. So, now you need a little bit more, but then your tolerance goes up.

[00:00:59]So, then when you're at the next deficit, you need even more and it just quickly becomes I mean, I think ketamine the rate of uh your tolerance going up is like 600%, I think. Um and so, that's a very easy one to fall into. And for me, again, it was just an escape. When I do it, I'd temporarily finally feel like I could just like exist, you know? I wasn't in torment. Um and so, but again, you could say that for all kinds of different um substances across the board, including sugar, including social media. Ketamine is just the most >> Not the same as ketamine.

[00:01:30]>> but it's just the most lethal one, but it's the same same situation, I think.

[00:01:34]>> No, you're like actually breaking my heart. So, like just for like reference, like we were we were we were friends.

[00:01:39]Like we hung out like 2021 20 Really, I forget cuz it was a blur cuz I wasn't We were friends. We're we're not friends anymore.

[00:01:44]>> No, we are >> [laughter] >> friends, but like No, but we stopped talking after you did like ayahuasca.

[00:01:49]>> Yeah, yeah.

[00:01:50]>> And I was going to go with you on this journey that's referenced in the book.

[00:01:54]And then after that, we really stopped talking. And like I had no idea what you were up to.

[00:01:59]>> Yeah, neither did I to be honest.