Matthew Perry's Death Now A Criminal Investigation

LOS ANGELES, CA — Seven months after Matthew Perry died from what the medical examiner called "the acute effects of ketamine," local police and federal authorities are investigating how the "Friends" actor obtained the dissociative drug.

Perry 54, was found unresponsive in the pool of his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28 and pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner noted in the autopsy report that Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion treatments for depression and anxiety, but his most recent known treatment had occurred over a week before his death — meaning the ketamine found in his system came from another source.

In a statement, LAPD officials said that "based on the Medical Examiner's findings, the LAPD with the assistance of the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, has continued its investigation into the circumstances of Perry's death.''

Investigators have interviewed "key people in Hollywood" known to have a history of drug use who may be able to help police track down the ketamine source, TMZ reported.

Ketamine is a dissociative drug that is most commonly used for surgical anesthesia. In recent years it has been increasingly prescribed by doctors in lower doses for off-label treatment of mental health conditions. Treatments are available as intravenous infusions, often done in a health care facility, as well as oral and nasal methods of administration that can be done at home.

Ketamine is also popularly used as a recreational drug for the relaxed state it produces. Higher recreational doses can produce a dissociative, hallucinatory state known as a "K hole."

The DEA over the last year has increased its scrutiny on doctors who prescribe ketamine. Among them was a prominent physician who prescribed the drug for at-home use to patients nationwide, a practice that was built with the help of pandemic-era rules that allow the prescription of controlled substances through telehealth.

In that case, the DEA suspended Dr. Scott Smith's privileges to prescribe controlled substances, the Washington Post reported.

Perry was open about his struggle with alcoholism and addiction, chronicled in his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing."

Perry almost died at 49 after his colon burst from opioid overuse. He spent two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital following the incident, People reported. He told the magazine that experience helped him get sober; he had been to rehab 15 times previously.

The medical examiner listed Perry's cause of death as "the acute effects of ketamine."

"Contributing factors in Mr. Perry's death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder. The manner of death is accident," the medical examiner's office said in a statement shortly after his death.

City News Service contributed to this report.