2023-12-16 11:12:15
The actor who played the famous Chandler Bing in the series Friends was found dead in his jacuzzi last October. He had struggled with numerous addictions for several decades and suffered from depression and anxiety.
Matthew Perry’s death was due to the “acute effects” of ketamine, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office this Friday, December 15. Toxicological analyzes established that given the “high levels of ketamine found in his post-mortem blood samples, the main causes of death would be both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression”.
His death on October 28 was also the result of other factors, according to the same source: “drowning”, “coronary heart disease” but also “effects of buprenorphine”, a medication prescribed to combat opioid addiction.
A diverted anesthetic and analgesic product
As explained by Drugs Info Service, dependent on the French Public Health Agency, ketamine is originally a drug used in anesthesia. It was synthesized for the first time in 1962 and was notably used on soldiers during the Vietnam War.
The product is therefore used in human medicine but also, and above all, in veterinary medicine. However, ketamine is also diverted from its medical use and “used for its stimulating effects at low doses, hallucinogenic and dissociative effects at higher doses”.
It is usually consumed as a white powder in the middle of the night. The National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) notes a “significant increase” in its use “as a festive product or in the context of chemsex” but also “for the treatment of chronic pain” in the context of non-medical use .
Sensation de dissociation
In fact, ketamine has an analgesic effect, that is to say it reduces the perception of pain. At higher doses, it causes dissociative effects, i.e. “a feeling of detachment (or dissociation) from the mind and the body”, detail the Canadian authorities.
As a result, people have a loss of physical sensation of their body, a lack of balance, and sometimes even a feeling of being unable to move and speak. The effects can include severe hallucinations and near-death experiences (NDE).
In this regard, Matthew Perry, who had made his addiction problems public, explained in his memoirs that the ketamine received in a detoxification clinic in Switzerland had made him feel like he was “dying”.
The risks of repeated consumption
According to the ANSM, “prolonged and/or repeated use of ketamine causes risks of damage, often serious, to the liver and bile ducts or urinary tract.” In addition, Canadian authorities warn of “an increase in blood pressure and heart rate, which can lead to stroke, accidents and heart attack.”
“Because ketamine itself can cause overdose and is also a central nervous system depressant, concurrent use with other depressants (including alcohol and opioids) can be dangerous. It can cause depression respiratory or stop breathing completely,” they add.
Used as an antidepressant
Ketamine can also be used as a treatment for depression, especially forms resistant to antidepressants. “While traditional antidepressant treatments take time to take effect (on average three weeks), ketamine produces a rapid antidepressant effect, only a few hours after its administration,” explains Inserm.
In March 2019, American health authorities authorized ketamine to treat patients with depression resistant to antidepressants, or even anxiety, or chronic pain.
The report on Matthew Perry’s death states that the actor was “receiving ketamine infusion treatment for depression and anxiety.” However, the last dose was apparently taken a week and a half before his death.
“The ketamine present in his body at the time of death could not have come from this infusion treatment, since the half-life of ketamine is three to four hours, or even less,” continues the analysis, reported by SkyNews .
The 54-year-old actor was found unconscious by his assistant in his jacuzzi at his home in Los Angeles in the United States.
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