Ketamine addict who spent five months in Japanese prison says crisis is 'worse than heroin'
Izabel Rose said her time behind bars in Osaka was 'traumatic', but also the 'best thing' that has ever happened to her
Warning: This article contains discussion of drug addiction which some readers may find distressing.
A woman who booked a month-long trip to Japan in the hopes of getting clean from ketamine ended up getting banged up abroad.
Izabel Rose had started to rely on the class B substance on a daily basis after first dabbling in it while at university, but hoped that the holiday would kickstart her sobriety.
However, the 26-year-old got a rude awakening when she landed in Tokyo and realised her dependency hadn't just disappeared - and this resulted in her making a decision that would land her behind bars.
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The 26-year-old, from London, went to drastic lengths to get her hands on some ketamine and admitted that she got on the hunt as soon as she touched down.
"Obviously, addiction doesn’t understand geography," she said. "So as soon as I landed in Japan, I was on the phone to my friend looking for drugs."
The self-described former 'party girl' explained she realised she was heading down a seriously slippery slope prior to the trip, as her weekend habit had started turned into a daily ritual.
Izzy's constant reliance upon ketamine began to wreak havoc on her health too, as she began to experience symptoms such as having difficulty urinating, tight chest pain, and abdominal pains.
"I wanted to go out all the time and every time I went out, I did some sort of substances," Izzy, who has been sharing videos discussing her ordeal on TikTok, said.
"It became very normalised to me. I wasn’t aware that I was an addict, I just thought it was what everyone did. I didn’t want to be in London because I would continue using ketamine."
So, she booked a trip to Japan to celebrate her 26th birthday, hoping that a brief escape from the UK capital would help her get back on the straight and narrow.
But as soon as she arrived in Tokyo, her withdrawals hit hard and she was desperate source some ketamine.
After discussing her drug dilemma with a pal back home, the Brit decided that the best course of action would be to get someone to send the substance to her in the post.
Izzy explained she sent her contact £150 and in return, they would send her 7 grams of ketamine to her. The package was going to be delivered to a hotel that she was heading to in Osaka.
A week later, it arrived, concealed inside of a birthday card - but it was intercepted by customs in Japan.
While nursing a raging hangover, Izzy woke up to find police officers camped outside of her hotel room in Osaka, with a warrant to seize her phone and laptop.
She was arrested and taken to the Osaka Detention Centre, but even then, the Brit did not realise the gravity of the situation she was in.
"In my head because it wasn’t a lot of drugs, I thought worst case scenario they would just confiscate them," Izzy said. "Even those first couple of days after I was arrested, I thought that I would get out of it.
"That really quickly became a reality check."
Rather than being given a slap on the wrist as she expected, Izzy was kept in solitary confinement for five months at the correctional facility in Miyakojima-ku while awaiting trial.
Given the nature of the crime she had committed and the fact it involved the postal system, officials put Izzy on a month-long communication ban.
After this, she was only allowed to send letters - which took weeks as they needed to be translated and checked - to her loved ones in the UK, while dealing with the potential of being sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Reflecting on her time at the Osaka Detention Centre, Izzy said it was a 'very isolating' experience, but ultimately, she believes it gave her a chance to 'be reborn'.
"I describe it as the most traumatic thing that has ever happened to me, but the best thing that has ever happened to me," she said. "I had never known discipline, structure, and routine like it.
"They rip all humanity from you. I didn’t see sunlight and I had no fresh air. I really did feel like I was an outsider. I was very privileged, so going into that environment was a shock to the system."
After a four-week trial, Izzy was handed a four-year suspended sentence and allowed to return home in September last year.
She compared regaining her freedom to being 'reborn', but admitted she has struggled to battle temptation now she is back in London. Izzy is currently attending several support groups to aid her sobriety journey.
"It was amazing," she said of her release. "I missed having the free will to shower and eat when I wanted to. It has been very difficult being back. I have not been perfect, I just try and get through every day."
Izzy is now calling for 'change' in the UK, warning that the country is facing a ketamine 'crisis'.
"This is worse than the heroin epidemic and we need more education around it," she added. "Addiction does not care who you are.
"It can creep up on you and it is not something to be ashamed about at all. It is something we should have open conversations about."
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Topics: Drugs, Prison, UK News, World News, Crime
Olivia Burke