Short answer
Ketamine used as an anaesthetic for surgery is allowed, like any anaesthetic. Prescribed esketamine or ketamine for severe depression that has not responded to other treatment is allowed by many muftis under strict medical supervision, as a case of need. Using ketamine or psychedelics recreationally, or at unregulated 'retreats', is haram. Ask a mufti and your psychiatrist about your case.
Intoxicating substances are haram for pleasure. In the Hanafi school, intoxicants other than wine may be used as medicine in necessity or real need on a qualified doctor's advice, as with anaesthesia, provided the aim is treatment and not the high.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- All intoxicants take the ruling of wine, but a drug that removes consciousness may be used for surgery and similar necessity.
- Hanbali
- All intoxicants take the ruling of wine, but a drug that removes consciousness may be used for surgery and similar necessity.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden. So taking ketamine, magic mushrooms (psilocybin), LSD or similar drugs for the experience is haram, whatever the setting. That includes 'wellness' retreats that promise spiritual insight from psychedelics.
Medicine is treated differently. Hanafi scholars distinguish wine (khamr), which the Prophet ﷺ said is not a medicine but a disease, from other intoxicating substances, which may be used as treatment when a qualified doctor says they are needed and nothing lawful works. That is why general anaesthesia, which removes consciousness, is permitted for surgery in all four schools.
Esketamine nasal spray and ketamine infusions are licensed in some countries for depression that has not responded to other treatment, and are given in a clinic under supervision. Many muftis allow them on the principle of need when other treatments have failed and a psychiatrist recommends them, with no doses taken home and no use beyond the prescription. Psilocybin and similar therapies are mostly still at the research stage, and scholars are more cautious: do not join a trial without a mufti's advice.
Depression can be treated in many ways, and needing medicine is not a failure of faith (see seeing a therapist). For cannabis medicines, see is weed haram.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
Intoxicants are forbidden for pleasure.
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:173
إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْمَيْتَةَ وَٱلدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ ٱلْخِنزِيرِ وَمَآ أُهِلَّ بِهِۦ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍۢ وَلَا عَادٍۢ فَلَآ إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿١٧٣﴾
He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Necessity can permit what is otherwise forbidden, within limits.
Sahih Muslim 2003
Sahih... كل مسكر خمر وكل مسكر حرام ...
"Every intoxicant is khamr, and every intoxicant is forbidden."
Recreational use of any intoxicant is haram.
Sahih Muslim 1984
Sahih... إنه ليس بدواء ولكنه داء ...
"It is not a medicine, it is a disease."
Said of wine, which is why the Hanafis treat wine more strictly than other substances in medicine.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Ashribah, on intoxicants other than wine. Discusses the use of non-wine intoxicants as medicine in non-intoxicating or necessary amounts.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Ashribah. Distinguishes wine from other intoxicating drinks in the Hanafi school.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.