Boys trapped in Thai cave were drugged for risky rescue dives

The drug ketamine has enjoyed a long career as a workhorse anesthetic. It had a brief career as a party drug known as "Special K." And just last month, it won recognition from the Food and Drug Administration as a fast-acting antidote for treatment-resistant depression.

But if you thought the drug ketamine was out of surprises, you'd be wrong. In a new account of the bold operation that freed 12 soccer players and their coach from a watery cave complex in Thailand last July, ketamine is credited with playing a key role in the rescue.

In a letter published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, the medical professionals responsible for masterminding the safe