Mystery Deepens: LAPD Probes Ketamine Link in Matthew Perry’s Death

Tuesday saw confirmation from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) that Matthew Perry’s death from ketamine’s acute effects is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the LAPD is looking into Perry’s system’s ketamine source.

October 28, 2023, saw the unresponsive discovery of 54-year-old Matthew Perry “floating face down in the heated end” of his pool. Witnesses said the “Friends” actor left for home two hours after playing pickleball that morning at 11 a.m.

According to police accounts, the actor was discovered dead when Perry’s aide came home after leaving to conduct errands. At 4:17 p.m. Perry was declared deceased. His death was ruled to have been accidental by the “acute effects of ketamine,” with drowning, coronary artery disease, and buprenorphine effects among the contributory causes by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office.

Perry had trace levels of ketamine in his stomach, according to the postmortem report, and bloodstream levels were normal for general anesthetic use. Perry, who had battled addiction, was getting anxiety and depression therapies using ketamine under medical supervision. He had been sober for 19 months before he died, and a week and a half had passed since his last ketamine dose.

Considering the short half-life of the medication—three to four hours—the investigation came to the conclusion that Perry’s death was not related to his previous infusion therapy. Rather, the ketamine was taken orally.

Under medical supervision, ketamine—anesthetic allowed by the FDA since the 1970s—is also used to treat anxiety and depression. Experts do caution about its hazards, though, which include hallucinations, dissociative effects, and its predominance in party and nightclub environments. The DEA warns that overdoing ketamine might cause unconsciousness and extremely slow breathing.