Five people have been charged and arrested in connection with the death of actor Matthew Perry in October 2023. These five include the actor’s personal assistant and two doctors. US attorney Martin Estrada said that doctors supplied Perry with a large amount of ketamine and “took advantage of Mr Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves”. Matthew Perry was found dead on October 28, 2023, at his Los Angeles home in a hot tub.

Later, the autopsy report revealed that the actor died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.

US Attorney Martin Estrada said the defendants “took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues.” Estrada added, “They knew what they were doing was wrong.”

Perry had earlier publicly discussed his issues with addiction. He had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy for anxiety and depression at the time of his death but the examiner found much higher levels of ketamine in the actor’s bloodstream than would be expected from the therapy alone.

The Los Angeles Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration said in May that they were working on a joint criminal investigation into how Perry got the prescription medication, and why there was so much of the drug in his system.

Ketamine is a medication that doctors use as an anaesthetic to induce loss of consciousness. According to Medical News Today, “Under the Controlled Substances Act, health experts consider ketamine a schedule III non-narcotic substance.”

The drug is a Schedule III non-narcotic that the FDA has approved for use as a general anaesthetic. However, doctors sometimes prescribe it for “off-label” uses, such as depression. Off-label means using the drugs to treat conditions the FDA has not approved.

Some people also use the drug for its hallucinogenic properties. Ketamin can sedate, incapacitate and cause short-term memory loss. While ketamine is safe to use in controlled medical practice, it becomes hazardous if someone takes it for recreational use as it may result in potentially life-threatening adverse effects.

The drug can be used for several purposes. Here, take a look at the uses of Ketamine.

Doctors use this drug to induce general anaesthesia alone or with other general anaesthetics, such as nitrous oxide. It is used in the emergency department to produce short-term sedation which is required certain procedures.

Medical News Today says, “Practitioners use low doses that do not produce dissociation to relieve severe pain from the following conditions: trauma, fractures, abdominal pain, arm or leg pain and low back pain.”

Research in 2017 notes that some studies indicate ketamine can quickly relieve depression in people who do not respond well to other treatments. Despite these positive results, the authors warn that data on the use of ketamine for this condition are limited, so practitioners should consider the risks of the drug before prescribing it, said a Medical News Today report.

Research on the use of ketamine for anxiety is low. However, one study suggests that it can help people with social anxiety disorder (SAD).

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