(Los Angeles) An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the co-star Friends obtained ketamine, an anesthetic that was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
Capt. Scot Williams of the Los Angeles Police Department said in an email Tuesday that his department was working with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the U.S. Postal Service to understand how and why the actor The 54-year-old had that much ketamine in his system when he died last October. The investigation was first reported by TMZ.
Matthew Perry was found unconscious in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home. The autopsy, whose report was released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was within the range typically used for general anesthesia during surgery. This drug is also sometimes used to treat depression.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said in the autopsy report that Mr. Perry also drowned in the “heated end of his swimming pool,” but that this was a secondary factor. in his death, considered an accident.
According to the autopsy report, relatives of the actor told investigators that he was receiving ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety. But the medical examiner said his last treatment, a week and a half earlier, would not explain the levels of ketamine in his blood. The drug is usually metabolized within a few hours in the body.
Matthew Perry was one of the biggest American television stars of his generation when he played the character Chandler Bing in the hit comedy Friends, at NBC, alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer. The series ran for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004.