A person was arrested in Southern California on Thursday in connection with the accidental overdose death of actor Matthew Perry, according to law enforcement sources cited by NBC News.
Perry, 54, was discovered unresponsive in the heated section of a pool at his Pacific Palisades residence on October 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that his death was due to the acute effects of ketamine, a drug typically used as an anesthetic with psychedelic properties.
In May, Los Angeles police announced that they were collaborating with federal authorities to investigate the origin of the ketamine that Perry had ingested.
Ketamine has long been popular as a party drug, but in recent years, it has gained recognition as a potential treatment for depression, with an increasing number of clinics offering it as an infusion or injection for various mental health conditions.
Perry had been receiving ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety, although his last session occurred more than a week before his death. The medical examiner noted that the ketamine found in Perry’s system "could not be from that infusion therapy" due to the drug’s short half-life.
The concentration of ketamine in Perry’s body was significantly high—comparable to levels used for general anesthesia during surgery, according to the medical examiner. The coroner ultimately ruled his death as accidental, citing contributing factors such as drowning, coronary artery disease, and the effects of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder.
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Perry, who was best known for his role as Chandler Bing on "Friends," had been open about his prolonged battle with opioid addiction and alcoholism, which he detailed in his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing." However, at the time of his death, he had been sober for 19 months, according to the medical examiner’s report.
It is not uncommon for law enforcement to investigate and, in some cases, charge individuals who provided drugs that led to a high-profile death.
For example, after Michael Jackson's death in 2009, his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering a fatal dose of potent drugs. More recently, federal prosecutors in New York charged four men with supplying actor Michael K. Williams with the fentanyl-laced heroin that resulted in his death in 2021.
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