Federal investigators are trying to determine how Matthew Perry got the ketamine that killed him, it has emerged.
Perry, 54, died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine in October last year.The Friends actor was declared dead after being found face-down and unresponsive in the jacuzzi which adjoins the swimming pool at his home in Los Angeles.
His death had publicly been considered a closed case, with the medical examiner having deemed it an accident, but law enforcement sources have now revealed that authorities are probing how he got ketamine and from whom.
Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents have interviewed some 'key people in Hollywood' who are known drug users, an insider told TMZ.
The interviewees 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 trying to determine how Matthew Perry got the ketamine that killed him, it has emerged. 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 declared dead after being found face-down and unresponsive in the jacuzzi which adjoins the swimming pool at his home in Los Angeles. He is pictured in the hot tub in a photo he had shared on his Instagram page
Perry is best known for his role of Chandler Bing on the hit 90s TV sitcom Friends. He is pictured with fellow castmates 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,' the autopsy report said, but that it was a secondary factor in his death.
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The examiner's report does not specify how or when Perry had consumed the fatal dose of ketamine. But it found that trace amounts were detected in his stomach, and that prescription medications and loose pills were present at his home.
Sources close to Perry told investigators that he was undergoing 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 higher-range levels used as general anesthetic in surgeries, and would cause overstimulation of the heart and problems breathing.
This could have caused Perry to lapse into unconsciousness, with drowning then becoming a contributory 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, the report found.
No alcohol was detected in his system by the autopsy report. Nor were there any traces of other drugs such as cocaine, heroin or fentanyl.
Local police and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents have interviewed some 'key people in Hollywood' who are known drug users in a bid to find out who gave Perry ketamine, an insider told TMZ. The interviewees are not 'necessarily the actual source of ketamine', but authorities believe they may have 'information leading to the source'. Pictured: Perry as Chandler Bing in Friends
The Batman logo at the bottom of his pool can be seen here in an aerial daylight shot. Perry's body was found in the hot tub adjoining the pool, to the bottom of this photo
Police officers taped off the street leading to Perry's house where he was found dead on October 28Perry, best known for his role of Chandler Bing on the hit 90s TV sitcom Friends, had struggled for decades with addiction to drugs, including ketamine, and related serious health issues, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months prior to his passing.
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EXCLUSIVE
Matthew Perry was NEVER clean and lied about his sobriety, tragic star's friend claims, after autopsy revealed actor died of a ketamine overdose
Perry wrote in his memoirs of how he had relied on using ketamine daily at points during his battles with addiction. He said the drug eased his pain and helped with depression.
'Has my name written all over it - they might as well have called it 'Matty,'' he wrote, of ketamine. 'Taking K is like being hit in the head with a giant happy shovel. But the hangover was rough and outweighed the shovel,' explained Perry.
He attended multiple rehabilitation clinics to combat addiction to painkillers and alcohol. In 2018 he suffered a burst colon, related to drug usage, and underwent multiple surgeries.
In his 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 of the sufferers out there,' and wrote in the prologue: 'I should be dead.'
'I have mostly been sober since 2001,' he wrote, 'save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps over the years.'
Perry (pictured in 2015) had struggled for decades with addiction to drugs, including ketamine, and related serious health issues, but had reportedly been clean for 19 months prior to 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,
Purisaki Pflaster Erfahrungsbericht the biggest lie he told was probably to himself,' the insider said.
'He could be quite a manipulative person when it came to his struggles with using, but it was such a struggle, such a battle, and he battled every day to the end.'
Ketamine is illegally used as a recreational drug for its numbing and hallucinogenic effects. The drug can also be used by doctors as an anesthetic, and researchers are exploring its use as a mental health treatment.
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