Federal investigators are reportedly trying to determine how Matthew Perry obtained the ketamine that killed him.
Perry, 54, died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine in October last year.
The Friends actor was pronounced dead after being found face down and unconscious in the hot tub next to the pool of his Los Angeles home.
His death had been publicly considered a closed case, with the medical examiner ruling it an accident, but law enforcement sources have now revealed that authorities are investigating how he obtained the ketamine and from whom.
Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents have interviewed some “key people in Hollywood” who are known drug users, a source said. TMZ.
Those interviewed are not “necessarily the actual source of ketamine,” the news outlet reported, but authorities believe they may have “information leading to the source.”
Federal investigators are reportedly trying to determine how Matthew Perry obtained the ketamine that killed him. The actor, 54, died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine on October 28 last year. He is pictured on October 22, 2023, the last time he was seen in public.
Perry was pronounced dead after being found face down and unconscious in the hot tub next to the pool of his Los Angeles home. He appears in the hot tub in a photo he shared on his Instagram page.
Perry is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit ’90s television sitcom Friends. He is pictured with co-stars Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner ruled that Perry died from an accidental ketamine overdose on October 28, 2023.
He also drowned in “the heated end of his pool,” according to the autopsy report, but it was a secondary factor in his death.
The examiner’s report does not specify how or when Perry consumed the fatal dose of ketamine. But he discovered that traces were detected in her stomach and that there were prescription medications and loose pills in her house.
Sources close to Perry told investigators that he was receiving ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety, at the time of his death.
But his most recent known infusion was more than a week before his overdose, meaning that dose would no longer have been in his system.
The examiner’s report said the levels of ketamine in Perry’s blood were comparable to the higher-range levels used as a general anesthetic in surgeries and would cause overstimulation of the heart and breathing problems.
This could have caused Perry to fall into unconsciousness, with drowning becoming a contributing cause of death.
Perry’s coronary artery disease and his use of buprenorphine to treat severe pain would have made him more vulnerable to the effects of ketamine, according to the report.
The autopsy report did not detect alcohol in his system. There were also no traces of other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or fentanyl.
Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents have interviewed some “key people in Hollywood” who are known drug users in an attempt to find out who gave Perry ketamine, a source told TMZ. Those interviewed are not “necessarily the actual source of ketamine,” but authorities believe they may have “information leading to the source.” Pictured: Perry as Chandler Bing on Friends
The Batman logo at the bottom of his pool can be seen here in an aerial shot in daylight. Perry’s body was found in the hot tub next to the pool, at the bottom of this photo.
Police officers cordoned off the street leading to Perry’s home, where he was found dead on October 28.
Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit ’90s TV sitcom Friends, had struggled for decades with drug addiction, including ketamine, and related serious health problems, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months before his death.
Perry wrote in his memoirs how he had relied on daily use of ketamine at times during his battles with addiction. He said the medication relieved her pain and helped her with depression.
“It’s got my name written all over it; they might as well have called it ‘Matty,'” he wrote, of ketamine. ‘Taking K is like getting hit in the head with a giant, happy shovel. But the undertow was hard and it weighed more than the shovel,” Perry explained.
He attended multiple rehab clinics to combat addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In 2018 he suffered a ruptured colon, related to drug use, and underwent multiple surgeries.
In her memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, published in 2022, Perry described going through detox dozens of times. He dedicated the book to “all who suffer” and wrote in the prologue: “I should be dead.”
“I’ve been mostly sober since 2001,” he wrote, “except for about sixty or seventy small mishaps over the years.”
Perry (pictured in 2015) had struggled for decades with drug addiction, including ketamine, and related serious health issues, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months before his passing.
However, a close friend of the star, who preferred not to be named, told DailyMail.com last year that Perry was “never” clean.
‘He lied to everyone about being clean. He never was. It is very sad. You know, the biggest lie he told was probably to himself,” the source said.
“He could be quite a manipulative person when it came to his struggles against consumption, but it was a big fight, a big battle, and he fought every day until the end.”
Ketamine is used illegally as a recreational drug for its numbing and hallucinogenic effects. Doctors can also use the drug as an anesthetic, and researchers are exploring its use as a mental health treatment.