China is proposing there should be a worldwide ban on ketamine - the class B drug that can lead to users needing to have their bladders removed. But ketamine is used as an anaesthetic drug in much of Africa, and there are fears further international controls could affect medical usage too.
"However Martin Jelsma from the drug and democracy programme at the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute says the health risks are "simply not sufficient" to justify international control.
He adds: "China is regularly under pressure especially from other Asian countries where ketamine is coming in from [China], so it's a gesture of goodwill that they are actively promoting international control even though they can domestically already do much more to control the illegal exports from their pharmaceutical production."
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