The death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry has been ruled an accident, the result of the acute effects of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic used to treat depression and PTSD.
According to a report released Friday by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner's Office, “high levels” of ketamine were present in Perry's postmortem blood samples. people reports
“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood samples, the main lethal effects would be both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the coroner states in the report.
(Video: YouTube)
Perry, 54, was found in the “heated end of his pool,” the report said, according to the Associated Pressbut his drowning was a secondary factor in his death on October 28.
“Drowning is a contributing factor due to the likelihood of diving into the pool when he fell unconscious,” the coroner said in the report.
The AP reports: “People close to Perry told investigators he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety. But the medical examiner said ketamine levels in Perry's body were in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery and that his last treatment 1 1/2 weeks earlier would not account for those levels. The drug is usually metabolized within hours.”
The beloved actor had been clean for 19 months.
Buprenorphine, more commonly known as Subutex, was also found in his system and contributed to his death. The drug is used to wean off opiates, an addiction Perry detailed in his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
Coronary artery disease also accounted for his tragic demise.
Dr. Andrew Stolbach, a medical toxicologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, reviewed the autopsy report for the Associated Press.
The amount of ketamine detected in Perry's system “would be enough to cause him to lose consciousness and lose his posture and his ability to stay above water,” he said.
(Video: YouTube)
“Using sedative drugs in a pool or hot tub, especially when you're alone, is extremely risky and, unfortunately, fatal here,” he explained.
In accordance with NPRketamine's use “has evolved since its development in the 1960s as a human and animal anesthetic.”
“Today, it is known as a promising new treatment for severe depression and as a psychedelic party drug,” the outlet states.
“In 2006, researchers at the National Institutes of Health showed that an intravenous dose of ketamine could relieve severe depression within hours,” explains NPR. “This compares to other depression medications, such as Prozac and Zoloft, which often take weeks to relieve the condition and do not work for all patients.”
“In 2018, Dr. Martin Teicher, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program at McLean Hospital, told NPR that he viewed the new uses of ketamine as “actually one of the biggest advances in psychiatry in a long time,'” the outlet notes.
But like the “date-rape drugs” Rohypnol and GHB, ketamine has slipped into sexual abuse victims “because of its effect on memory,” according to the Department of Justice.
“The initial 'high' is followed by amnesia,” warned the DOJ's Office of Justice Programs.
According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), “Special K,” as ketamine is known on the streets, “is a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects.”
“Ketamine distorts the perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and out of control,” the DEA states. “It's known as a 'dissociative anesthetic hallucinogen' because it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment.”
Its “unwanted side effects” include “agitation, depression, cognitive difficulties, unconsciousness and amnesia.”
As NPR points out, “it's still unclear how or when Perry got more ketamine in the hours before she died.”
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you're sick of letting radical tech execs, bogus fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals, and the lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news, consider donating to BPR to help us fight back them. Now is the time. The truth has never been more critical!
Success! Thanks for donating. Please share BPR content to help fight lies.
We have zero tolerance for comments that contain violence, racism, profanity, profanity, doxing, or rude behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it, click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for engaging with us in a fruitful conversation.
English 
Español de Venezuela 