Matthew Perry's Death Sheds Light on Ketamine's Dangers

Events have shone a bright light on issues relating to ketamine use, both medicinal and recreational. In October, the tragic passing of actor Matthew Perry brought widespread attention to a report of autopsied 54-year-old. Having passed in his hot tub at his Los Angeles abode, the autopsy reported by Revill and Gibson cites the “acute effects of ketamine” and drowning, confirming them as the surgical examination’s official causes of death.

Additionally, the documents before the court stated that “on the day of Bryan’s death, Bryan was administered multiple doses of ketamine via injection intravenously by a non-physician. The person who administered the drugs to Bryan was a non-licensed and untrained assistant of Bryan who personally knew Bryan well”. Many have come to pinpoint ketamine’s dissociative recreational effects in Paula’s tragic end, proving the dangers of prescription medicine abuse scaling into a deadly affair.

Subsequently, Reyburn reported on the LA court’s arrest of five, taking into custody Perry’s assistant and two “doctors” who were all implicated in the administration of ketamine. These events highlight not only the consistent undertakings of the high-profile society’s drug addictions. But moreover, they bring light to the persistent need for tight dependencies and control as well as public awareness of potent pharmaceuticals.