Police probes death of ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry

FILE PHOTO: Cast member Matthew Perry poses at the premiere for the television series “The Kennedys After Camelot” at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, California U.S., March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo

LOS ANGELES – Local and federal authorities Tuesday were investigating how “Friends” actor Matthew Perry obtained the prescription drug ketamine, which contributed to his death in October.

A Los Angeles Police Department representative told City News Service there is an “open investigation” into the actor’s Oct. 28 death. The 54-year-old Perry was found unresponsive in the pool at his Pacific Palisades home and he died at the scene.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner later announced that the cause of death was “the acute effects of ketamine.”

“Contributing factors in Mr. Perry’s death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder. The manner of death is accident,” the medical examiner’s office said in a statement.

In a statement, LAPD officials said that “based on the Medical Examiner’s findings, the LAPD with the assistance of the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, has continued its investigation into the circumstances of Perry’s death.”

According to the DEA’s website, “Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects.”

“Ketamine distorts the perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control. It is referred to as a `dissociative anesthetic hallucinogen’ because it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment,” the DEA website says.

The drug is sometimes used to counter the effects of depression.

Perry had openly spoken of his years-long struggle with addiction. He became addicted to Vicodin during his time on “Friends” – and had done multiple stints in rehab, including during filming of the show.

In 2022, Perry published a memoir detailing his troubles with drugs and alcohol, his issues with weight gain and loss, and other facets of his at-times tumultuous lifestyle, including a harrowing account of an emergency surgery following a gastrointestinal perforation, which nearly took his life.

There was no evidence of illicit drugs in Perry’s system when he died, according to the medical examiner’s report on the actor’s death.

The medical examiner noted in the autopsy report that Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion treatments for depression and anxiety, but his most recent known treatment had occurred roughly a week and a half before his death – meaning the ketamine found in his system came from a source other than that treatment. (CNS)