Two doctors and a dealer known as the “ketamine queen” are among five people who have been charged in the death of Friends actor Matthew Perry , who died at the age of 54 in late October last year. This comes after an investigation lasting seven months into the role that ketamine played in his passing. According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner, trace amounts of the controlled substance were found in his stomach.
The drug is sometimes used to treat depression. Since his death, the authorities have been working to understand how Perry got ahold of the drug, which is legal and usually used as an anesthetic but can be abused when used recreationally. This is what we know so far: Perry’s ketamine use was spiraling out of control in the weeks before his death, the investigation has revealed.
He was injecting the drug between six and eight times a day, and paid $55,000 for it in the month before he died, prosecutors said in court filings this week. While Perry had been in ketamine infusion therapy as a treatment for depression and anxiety, it wasn’t the therapy that led to his death. Prosecutors say that the actor had been taking unsupervised doses of the drug and that his addiction was “out of control,” according to NBC News.
On October 28, 2023, Perry received his first shot at about 8.30am from Iwamasa, his live-in assistant. The second shot came four hours later and another was injected about 40 minutes after that, Iwamasa stated, according to a plea agree.