Many doctors are quick to prescribe dangerous medications to their patients, but unfortunately, this can lead to the death of the user.
Former “Friends” star Matthew Perry was found dead in his swimming pool from a ketamine overdose in October 2023. His death and the subsequent investigation shed light on an alleged Hollywood drug ring, which in Perry's case involved two doctors.
But medical professionals are also involved in the increasingly popular legal ketamine industry, and doctors who spoke to The Daily Caller detailed startling problems surrounding the industry.
Dr. Samuel Wilkinson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University, told the Caller that some medical professionals who administer ketamine may be unaware of some of the most common side effects.
“I've spoken to people who provide ketamine in clinical practice, and they're surprised when I tell them it's neurotoxic,” Wilkinson says. “Anyone working with ketamine and neuroscience knows this, and they should be aware of this if they're giving it to humans as a therapeutic intervention.”
Ketamine is Used It was used as a battlefield anesthetic and clinically during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, and has been used as a party drug for decades, becoming popular in rave culture in the 1980s. release.
Matthew Perry talks about addiction
1,200 to 1,500 ketamine clinics Germinated Ketamine clinics have sprung up across the country, treating patients with problems including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders and depression. In 2015, there were just 60 ketamine clinics in the country. Report From R&A Psyins, a branch of insurance broker Rahn & Associates.
The industry is “a bit of a mess,” Wilkinson said.
Ketamine is a “dissociative anesthetic with hallucinogenic effects” that “can cause sedation, immobility, pain relief, and memory loss,” the report said. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The ketamine market is expected to grow significantly. study A study conducted by Grand View Research predicts the industry's value will reach $3.41 billion in 2023, a 70% increase from 2018.
Josette Sullins, founder of dēhp Integrative Care, a medical clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, treats patients with mental illness and trauma. She is opting for more natural treatments. “Prescribing has become common practice, so I think now we're starting to narrow it down to more holistic types of treatments,” she says. “At our clinic, we're going to do everything we can before we prescribe.”
Wilkinson says the FDA is concerned about possible cognitive damage that can occur with repeated use, which he says medical professionals aren't very good at detecting right away, so they only become aware of the harm later on.
Perry talks about rehab on Letterman in 2002
Cognitive impairment, bladder problems that could lead to reconstructive surgery and delusional thinking are all possible side effects of the drug, which Wilkinson says can cause “irreversible damage”.
Wilkinson believes doctors have been too permissive and cavalier about administering ketamine treatment and that further restrictions should be put in place.
“The FDA occasionally sends warning letters to clinics saying, 'We think this is dangerous,' but beyond that, the FDA has very little authority to regulate medical practices.”
FDA studies of the drug have been more tightly restricted and overseen than routine use, which could skew perceptions of safety, Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said the medical board doesn't usually get involved unless there's a dramatic event like Perry's death.
Wilkinson says dealing with the FDA's drug safety program is a pain, and he believes that's why doctors are promoting the idea that intravenous ketamine is better than the FDA-approved version of esketamine, a legal nasal spray used to treat depression. Because prescribing esketamine requires a lot of paperwork and health insurance procedures, doctors are choosing to forgo it entirely and instead attract patients who are willing to pay for intravenous ketamine out of pocket, which is more profitable, Wilkinson says.
The FDA warns against using ketamine without the supervision of a medical professional and has not approved it for intravenous administration to treat depression. Michigan MedicineBut it is legal for doctors to prescribe ketamine, and they have the freedom to develop their own treatment protocols.
Ketamine has proven popular among celebrities.
Chrissy Teigen bragged about undergoing ketamine therapy on her birthday in 2023. The famous swimsuit model and her husband John Legend lost their son, Jack, to a miscarriage, and Teigen praised the drug in an Instagram post.
“Had a really amazing birthday 🥹. Went to see my friend @flamingo_estate, had a delicious lunch with friends, did my ketamine therapy, watched Space and Time and Baby Jack and Strange Penguins and cried the whole time. Then I cuddled with my babies, ate hotpot and spent time with my best friend 💗,” she wrote.
Sharon Osbourne is speaking out about ketamine therapy, saying it helped her overcome the depression and anxiety she experienced after being fired from The Talk in March 2021. She faced backlash after defending Piers Morgan's comments about Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey.
“I don't believe a word of what Meghan Markle says,” Morgan said during an episode of “Good Morning Britain” in 2021. “I wouldn't believe her if she read me the weather forecast and I think the fact that she's launched this onslaught on the royal family is despicable.”
American comedian and actress Sheryl Underwood accused Osbourne of justifying Morgan's “racist” views, leading to an on-air clash between the two and ultimately Osbourne's departure.
Osborne claimed ketamine therapy helped her through this difficult time.
“I definitely had a difficult time at first. I felt embarrassed. It was humiliating that people would think I might be racist,” she said. Daily Mail “I went into therapy for three months. I was given ketamine treatments and I got it all out. The tears, everything I was feeling, it all just went away,” she said in a 2021 interview.
American singer and songwriter Halsey also admitted to undergoing ketamine therapy on her “She MD” podcast in August 2024. She said it helped her with PTSD and postpartum depression.
“A lot of people have different experiences. They cry, they laugh, they relive old traumas. For me, in my first session, I started going back to old traumas from before I got sick. It was like my brain was telling me, 'You don't have to do that, I'm over it,' and I said, 'Yeah, I get it,' and then I started traveling into something new,” she said.
“I don't think I had an experience that changed my identity in a negative way. I felt really happy.”
But Sullins warns that this could be a sign of a bigger problem: “Substance abuse disorder has stages of use, misuse and full-blown addiction.”
“Look at the opioid crisis. Let's not let that happen again.”
Dr. Boris D. Heifetz, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University, agrees that one drawback of ketamine therapy is that some patients may become addicted.
“They need to increase the dosage to get the same effect, and they start looking for ketamine outside the treatment container,” Heifetz told the Caller.
Halsey talks about ketamine
Tech billionaire Elon Musk also spoke about the drug. Interview In March 2024, she appeared with former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
“Sometimes you get into a state where you have negative chemicals going on in your brain — a depression-like state, or a depression-like state that's not related to negative news. Ketamine helps you get out of that negative state of mind,” Musk told Lemon.
He emphasized the fact that he got a prescription for ketamine from a “real doctor” and said he uses it “in small amounts, about once every two weeks.”
Regardless of how ketamine is obtained, the risks are still present.
“We need to be careful not to overdose people or overexpose them, but a lot of people don't seem to know that,” Dr. Wilkinson said.
While ketamine treatments are certainly helping people, Dr. Heifetz stressed that the industry doesn't have as much oversight, regulation and quality control as it should.
Wilkinson is currently work An FDA-registered study is comparing the highly regulated esketamine with intravenous racemic ketamine, with the hope of getting a clear answer as to which is safer. Companies can then evaluate racemic ketamine and apply for approval from the FDA. If approved, the FDA can enforce regulations such as dosage limits. It's unlikely, but Wilkinson says it's the only way things will end.
Lamar Odom opens up about using ketamine for treatment
Lamar Odom suffered a near-fatal overdose in 2015. said He suffered 12 seizures and six strokes. The former NBA player said in a 2021 interview with Good Morning America that he had given up the drugs he was abusing in exchange for ketamine.
“I went to rehab, I did other things, but ketamine came into my life at the right time,” Odom said at the time. “I feel great. I'm alive. I'm sober. I'm happy.”
Odom says he's sober, but according to Good Morning America in 2021, he has no plans to quit drinking. Interview.
While ketamine treatment appears to have worked for these stars, it proved fatal for Matthew Perry, the popular “Friends” actor. He had been open about his struggles with drug addiction and was trying to get sober. He discovered ketamine treatment, but became addicted. Unable to obtain ketamine legally from a medical professional, prosecutors say those close to him allegedly helped him obtain it from an unauthorized source, which ultimately led to his death.
Despite warnings and attempts to live sober, doctors apparently prescribed ketamine treatment to help the “Friends” star with anxiety and depression. Perry's addiction had relapsed by the time he completed a doctor-supervised ketamine treatment plan. An investigation into the star's death on October 28, 2023 revealed a dark underworld where ketamine was widely available and, in his case, deadly. His personal assistant, Kenny Iwamasa, was allegedly well aware of Perry's struggles with addiction but still agreed to supply the star with ketamine.
Prosecutor Assert Licensed medical doctors Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Dr. Mark Chavez, along with Jasveen Sangha, known as the “Queen of Ketamine,” saw an opportunity to profit from the actor's addiction and vulnerability and exploited it for their own financial gain.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the vial of ketamine sold to Perry cost $12, but Perry paid more than $2,000 for it.
Prosecutor Charged Plascencia and Chavez were arrested in August on charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
According to court documents, Iwamasa later admitted to finding Perry unconscious after using ketamine, but also admitted to obtaining and continuing to administer the drugs, and that he also found Perry dead in the hot tub.
According to a plea agreement with the Department of Justice, Estrada admitted to procuring dozens of pill vials for the “Friends” star over a period of several weeks. Estrada said he sourced the drugs from multiple sources and helped purchase more than $55,000 in ketamine for the star a month before his death. He later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
Unfortunately, Perry's addiction was reactivated and he was acting reactively rather than working to improve himself, Sullins said.
“People want to know what this is all about, what this drug can do, is it good or bad, and I think that's due to a lot of telemedicine and advertising of easy solutions,” Heifetz told the Caller.
“There are a lot of unknowns.”