Matthew Perry reportedly took several doses of ketamine on the day of his death | US News

“Friends” star Matthew Perry ordered his personal assistant to give him multiple intravenous doses of ketamine on the day of his death last year, the assistant said in a statement to investigators.

The actor, who was found drowned in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home last October, asked his assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, to give him a dose at 8:30 a.m., court documents show.

Four hours later, while watching a movie at home, he asked Iwamasa to give him another injection. Just 40 minutes later, Perry instructed him to give him a larger dose.

“Give me a big dose,” Perry told Iwamasa, instructing him to prepare the hot tub. The assistant administered the dose to Perry and left the house to run errands, the papers say. When he returned, Perry was lying face down in the water.

An autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later stated that Perry, 54, died from the “acute effects of ketamine” and drowned in the “hot end of his pool.”

Ketamine is a narcotic commonly used recreationally and to treat depression. Buprenorphine, an opioid commonly used to treat heroin addicts, also contributed to Perry's death, the report said.

The arrest of five people on Thursday in connection with Perry's death, including Iwamasa, two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, and drug dealers Jasveen Sangha, also known as the “Ketamine Queen,” and Erik Fleming, has revealed a world of drug trafficking at the highest levels to the stars.

According to a timeline created from police reports, Perry's final days were marked by an escalating quest for the drug. Federal prosecutors allege the five defendants “exploited Perry's addiction to enrich themselves.”

According to law enforcement officials, Perry became increasingly dependent on ketamine and turned to illegal dealers after his request for a stay at a local clinic was denied.

The actor's increasing dependence on the drug is somewhat reminiscent of the death of singer Michael Jackson, who had become dependent on a pseudo-legitimate dose of another anesthetic, propofol.

There were reportedly detailed signs that Perry's addiction had become life-threatening: he had been found unconscious several times before, and was observed to lose his ability to speak or move after taking the dose.

According to Iwamasa's testimony, part of his job was to coordinate Perry's doctor's appointments and make sure he took his medications. Iwamasa said he was introduced to Plasencia as the source of the drugs.

According to court documents, at one point Plasencia had discussed with Chavez, the other doctor accused in the case, how much money they could get from Perry.

“I wonder how much this idiot is going to pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. Prosecutors allege Chavez supplied 22 vials of ketamine and ketamine lozenges with a fake prescription. Chavez reportedly responded, “Let's find out.”