LAPD and DEA Investigating Source of Ketamine Matthew Perry Took Before Death

Local and federal authorities are trying to find out the source of the ketamine Friends actor Matthew Perry took before he died of an overdose in October 2023.

TMZ was the first outlet to report on the investigation Tuesday, May 21, and said Los Angeles police and the Drug Enforcement Administration have been “digging” into the actor’s death “for months.”

The outlet said authorities have “already interviewed some key people in Hollywood.”

An LAPD source confirmed to People magazine that the department has an open investigation into the actor’s death. The individual added that the U.S. Postal Inspector has also been brought on board to help determine the origin of the ketamine.

Also Read: ‘Friends’ Cast Left ‘Utterly Devastated’ by Matthew Perry’s Death

An assistant to Perry, 54, found him unresponsive in the pool at the actor’s home in L.A.’s exclusive Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Oct. 28.

Paramedics responded, and Perry was declared deceased. There were no drugs at the scene and there was no evidence of foul play, authorities said at the time.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner later determined Perry died from “acute effects of ketamine,” as previously reported.

The autopsy report also listed drowning, coronary artery disease, and effects of buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat opioid use disorder and chronic pain, as contributing factors in his death. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

The actor was on “ketamine infusion therapy” when he passed away, the autopsy report said.

Ketamine therapy is used to treat depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Allied Psychiatry and Mental Health in Newport Beach, California.

Perry had a history of substance abuse and detailed his struggles with opioid and alcohol addiction in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.

The former child star said in the book his drug use spiraled out of control as he became a superstar on Friends.

“I could handle it, kind of. But by the time I was 34, I was really entrenched in a lot of trouble,” he said. “But there were years that I was sober during that time. Season 9 was the year that I was sober the whole way through. And guess which season I got nominated for best actor? I was like, ‘That should tell me something.’”