Matthew Perry- “I wonder how much this moron will pay”

Matthew Perry was apparently receiving ketamine infusions to treat depression

Speaking as a former addict, this sounds an insanely risky course of action for someone with such a history of addiction!

There are a couple of other elements in the US which make it more likely there than here.

The first is the culture of drugs being marketed direct to patient (anyone who's watched tv whilst in the US will understand) and the US culture of giving the consumer what they want.

The second is that most people use their health insurance to pay for drugs and when they are dispensed they get several weeks of supply in one go. In the UK, if you were prescribed an opioid you wouldn't be given a stash big enough to develop a serious addiction.

(I don't think this is particularly applicable in Perry's case, but is definitely part of the opioid epidemic issue).

Not quite sure how this was the BBC1 lead news story though. Never watched a single episode. Millions more didn’t watch either looking at the uk viewing figures. People in LA do drugs and are crooks. Is that a surprise? Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland - ring any bells?

Yet they are enabled and enriched by the Hollywood/entertainment community who grieve for Perry. The Ketamine Queen probably has some big names on her speed dial

Utterly heartbroken. Appalling, evil people. I hope they never get out of prison

My brother also died of an accidental overdose around the same time as yours. He was a recreational user rather than an addict, but also started using following a traumatic event - he had mostly turned things around and was doing well up until his death. There was no attempt made to investigate who the drug dealer might have been, as my brother was not famous and as there were so many other overdose deaths that the police simply didn't have the capacity to investigate all of them. Any time that I read about the opioid crisis, idiots comment that it is "natural selection", "junkies deserve it", etc. I suppose it never occurs to these idiots that the relatives of those who died from overdoses might want to read articles and comments about the topic.

I do feel sympathy for Matthew Perry, and am glad that the investigation has highlighted that there are some physicians who are simply glorified drug dealers. I assume that these same dealers are also responsible for the deaths of others, and at least they will not be able to kill more people from jail. But I do feel bitter knowing that Matthew Perry gets some justice, while so many others do not.

It's also a very effective medication for humans for the same reasons as it's abused.

So sorry for your loss and for the lost life of your sibling. This is heartbreaking.
When a celebrity with the world at their fingertips make these choices it's very sad, of course but it's not quite the same.

While completely agreeing with you I believe the magic word here is "high profile". The street junkie who passes out in an alley doesn't make the news, we never grew up with the guy watching him on telly. It's when the famous persons death gets plastered all over the news and social media that the authorities feel the need to show the public how "relevant they are" by arresting 5 people then popping infront of the cameras in order to join the celebrity circus and advance their careers. To be honest I'm glad they did it, I just wished they did the same with every junkie who dies of overdose, unfortunately not the case.

I felt this too but my own sibling, once a traumatised child deliberately targeted by an adult county lines heroin dealer spent his life battling drug addiction with no financial resources at his disposal and very little help from anyone despite his desire to get clean and live a normal life, died of an accidental overdose several months before Matthew Perry. I have been made to feel like he was a junkie whose life was worth nothing and dying like this was no less than he deserved. Maybe drug deaths are more tragic when they happen to a celebrity in an LA jacuzzi than when they happen in the streets of Scotland but I don’t feel that way…Sorry for the diversion from the topic!

I recently read the book Demon Copperhead which goes into the prescription drug addiction scandal in the US. Its fiction but presumably based on what is/has really happened. It describes a whole industry of drug reps and bent doctors exploiting vulnerable people and its truly shocking. I was wondering what the differences are between the USA and the UK which have stopped the same happening here.

They'll probably get off lightly. Conrad Murray (Michael Jackson's doctor) only got 4 years for basically giving MJ a general anaesthetic and then leaving him unsupervised. He went back to practicing medicine!

Does anyone else feel sorry for his ex live in assistant who i believe has been charged? Perry was an adult who chose to do this. The drugs were prescribed by medical doctors and there is some discussion in small quantities that it may be used for depression. Obviously the doctors should have known better, not prescribed so much, should have been overseeing it better (or not prescribing at all).

but if the assistant thinks it’s legal and is doing as his boss tells him to do it’s a bit sad he gets charged?

From a purely moral.point of view you're clearly right.

In the case of Matthew Perry, millions "grew up" with him and followed the life of his character over 10 years and viewed Chandler as a friend

When I found out Perry had died I was genuinely shocked and saddened.

His life struck me (and I read it while he was alive) as the most protracted suicide possible. I'm interested to hear that you didn't find him likable either!

It's awful.

I really liked his autobiography. I agree with all you say though, he did not come across as likeable, he was really selfish and immature but I thought his account of addiction was very interesting - and so poignant as I did not read it until after he died.
It did give me more understanding that people who seemingly have the whole world and everything that they want, still can't escape something like this.

Matthew Perry mentions Dopesick in his autobiography.
He talks about a particular scene with Betsy and the highs (or just the "ok"s) that addicts are seeking.
I think that there will always be people in the wings that want to exploit vulnerable people and despite his fame, fortune and all that came with it, MP was just another vulnerable person.

As an aside it always amazes me that when a rich celebrity dies of a drug overdose it’s a tragedy but when it’s your common ‘junkie’ people have a very different attitude. Is anyone interested in the thousands of UK drugs deaths every year? Scotland is the drug death capital of Europe by a long long way.. i think that every one of those deaths is an absolute tragedy, I wish people were as interested in the cause as they are in what happened to Matthew Perry

I think his death was an inevitability really. I was sad to hear of his death but not in the least surprised. I had read his autobiography on the recommendation of a friend and I absolutely hated it. He came across as incredibly egocentric, immature, pathetic and someone who ultimately always put himself first. He just wasn't in the least bit likeable, or at least he wasn't in his book.

And I appreciate that the nature of addiction is to be entirely focussed on one's own needs and that it is a disease but he wrote the book while sober and he struck me as only really truly caring about himself, ever.

I'm sad for him as I would be anyone who has succumbed to any kind of addiction but this is a case of supply and demand and if it wasn't this 'dealer' it would have been another.

I remember wondering, when we first started hearing about people becoming addicted to prescription painkillers / strong over the counter painkillers, how that could happen. You take painkillers to kill pain, but beyond that, what did painkillers do to cause addiction.

Very naive I now know.

It is very common in the US. There are many doctors who basically do nothing but prescribe painkillers to people who are addicted to painkillers.

I agree. If you're a doctor you sign up to a strict code of ethics and should arguably be held to a higher standard than a drug dealer.