In the wake of recent arrests related to Matthew Perry ’s death, Us Weekly is looking back at how the late star discussed his use of ketamine treatment in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing . Nearly only one year before his death, Perry wrote that he used the drug “to ease pain and help with depression.” “Ketamine was a very popular street drug in the 1980s.
There is a synthetic form of it now,” he wrote. “Has my name written all over it — they might as well have called it ‘Matty.’” Perry referred to the drug as a “giant exhale,” revealing that he would “disassociate” while receiving treatment.
Perry died on October 28, 2023, at age 54 from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s toxicology report , which was released in December 2023. His death was initially ruled an accident , but on August 15, 2024, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California charged five individuals — Jasveen Sangha , Erik Fleming , Dr. Salvador Plasencia , Perry’s former assistant Kenneth Iwamasa and Dr. Mark Chavez — in connection with Perry’s passing.
While each individual has differing charges, Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Plasencia and Sangha pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to the same cha.