Cambridge University students injected with ketamine

The University of Cambridge has paid students £250 to be injected with the nightclub drug ketamine as part of a research project.

The experiments, carried out by the Department of Psychiatry, were designed to investigate treatment methods for schizophrenia.

People suffering from the mental illness sometimes believe that external objects have become part of their body -- a sensation also experienced by ketamine users.

Researchers injected 15 participants with ketamine before testing whether it made them more or less likely to identify a false rubber hand as their own.

The hallucinogenic drug, which is legal in liquid form but a Class C drug when converted into a grainy powder, is most commonly used as a horse tranquilliser.

One PhD student, who took part in the study, which found links between ketamine and schizophrenia, told how the experience was "disturbing" and "scary".