According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration have launched a joint criminal investigation into Matthew Perry’s tragic death at the age of 54.
On October 28, 2023, the Friends star was pronounced dead after he was found unresponsive, floating face down in a hot tub at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. An autopsy ruled that Perry’s death was caused principally by the “acute effects of ketamine,” a drug that can be used to treat depression and anxiety. “At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” read the coroner’s report, which was obtained by THR.
Prior to his death, Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy. His last session took place a week and a half before his death—long enough before he died that, as the medical examiner who performed his autopsy pointed out, the ketamine in his system at his time of death could not have come from that session. Now the LAPD and DEA are investigating how Perry had so much ketamine in his system the day of his death.
Other factors also contributed to Perry’s death, including drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of the drug buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder. At the time, Perry’s death was ruled an accident, with no evidence of foul play.
For years, Perry struggled with drug and alcohol use. In his best-selling memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing released in 2022, Perry documented this struggle, revealing that his disease led him to 15 rehab stays, 65 detox sessions, 14 surgeries on his body due to opiod abuse. “I’ve probably spent $9 million or something trying to get sober,” he told The New York Times.
In his memoir, Perry elucidated how ketamine made him feel: he likened taking the dissociative anesthetic to being “hit in the head with a giant happy shovel,” but said that the hangover “outweighed the shovel.”
“I often thought that I was dying during that hour,” wrote Perry, of ketamine therapy. “Oh, I thought, this is what happens when you die. Yet I would continually sign up for this shit because it was something different, and anything different is good.”
Courteney Cox, Perry’s Friends co-star, shared on CBS Good Morning that she still feels connected to Perry, spiritually. “I feel like there are a lot of people that, I think, guide us,” she said. “I do sense—I sense Matthew’s around, for sure.”
After his death, Perry’s loved ones launched the Matthew Perry Foundation, which aims to help people battle drug and alcohol addiction. “The Matthew Perry Foundation is the realization of Matthew’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction,” reads the website’s mission statement. “It will honor his legacy and be guided by his own words and experiences and driven by his passion for making a difference in as many lives as possible.”
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