evening reading | hollywood actors died in a "collective hunt"
2024-09-01
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nearly 10 months after matthew perry, who played chandler bing in the american tv series "friends", passed away suddenly, us prosecutors disclosed the latest progress in the investigation of the case on august 15.
last october, 54-year-old matthew drowned in the bathtub of his los angeles home. the police said no drugs were found at the scene, and there were no signs of "harm by others." the outside world believed at the time that it was just an accident.
▎matthew plays chandler in the american tv series "friends"
however, the investigation conclusions released by the prosecutors this month reversed.five people involved in the case, including matthew's personal assistant and two doctors, were prosecuted in california, usa. prosecutors accused these defendantsestablished an "extensive criminal underground network", exploiting matthew's drug dependence by providing him with ketamine, a powerful anesthetic that is lethal if abused.
milgram, director of the u.s. drug enforcement administration, said in a statement:matthew's experience "began with unscrupulous doctors who saw perry as an atm machine" and "ended with street drug dealers"。
the reversal of matthew's cause of death has once again pushed the chaos of drug abuse in the united states to the forefront of public opinion.
1
"give me a big shot"
according to the forensic autopsy results, the amount of ketamine found in matthew's blood was equivalent to the dose used during general anesthesia.the medical examiner believed that matthew died from an acute reaction to ketamine.
ketamine, commonly known as "k powder", is a powerful anesthetic with psychedelic properties. in recent years, ketamine has also been used to treat depression, anxiety, etc.although ketamine is not officially approved for the treatment of mental illness in the united states, doctors are authorized to prescribe ketamine for "off-label" purposes.
ketamine
matthew was addicted to drugs for many years. according to the police investigation,matthew received intravenous ketamine at a clinic last year to treat depression., and started to get addicted again.during the period before his death, matthew turned to illegal drug dealers after being refused an increase in dosage by the clinic doctor.
according to the indictment released by the california federal court, prosecutors accused matthew's personal assistant and an acquaintance of matthew of working with two doctors and a drug dealer to purchase tens of thousands of dollars' worth of ketamine for matthew, taking advantage of matthew's long-term struggle with drug abuse and addiction.
the indictment says the two doctors conspired to provide matthew with large amounts of ketamine despite knowing that "matthew's ketamine addiction was spiraling out of control."one of them also saw matthew "frozen" after the injection, but still provided him with a steady supply of ketamine.
according to statistics, from september to october 2023, matthew paid at least one doctor $55,000 to purchase "about 20 bottles of ketamine." the two doctors were very contemptuous of this in the text message exchange: "i wonder how much this idiot will pay?"
▎two doctors prosecuted
as matthew's dependence on ketamine grew stronger, his assistant and acquaintances asked sanga, a street drug dealer nicknamed "k powder queen", for ketamine. she promised matthew that "ketamine can be provided at any time."
prosecutors believe that it was the fatal dose provided by sanga that led to matthew's death.
four days before matthew's death, his assistant iwamasa injected him with at least six injections of ketamine a day. he also had "adverse medical reactions." iwamasa admitted in his plea agreement that he found matthew unconscious at his residence at least twice, "he was frozen and unable to speak or move."
at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of matthew's death, iwamasa injected him with a dose of ketamine. four hours later, he asked iwamasa to give him another shot. less than 40 minutes later, matthew told iwamasa, "give me a big shot," and instructed iwamasa to fill the bathtub with hot water.
iwamasa, who had prepared all this, went out to do some business. when he returned to matthew's residence, he found him lying face down in the bathtub, dead. 2
a life of drug abuse
matthew's drug problem is an open secret in hollywood. in 2022, he revealed for the first time in his memoir that he had been drinking alcohol since he was 14 years old.after becoming famous, he was hospitalized many times to quit drinking, taking medicine and drugs, costing a total of $9 million.
the world discovered that this was a man who had struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction for most of his life.
according to matthew, he became addicted to drugs after a jet ski accident in 1997.the painkiller oxycontin prescribed by the doctor temporarily relieved his pain, but also made him addicted and fell into the abyss.to get over oxycontin, he started taking vicodin (an opioid painkiller); to get over his drug addiction, his alcohol addiction took control of him again.at its worst, matthew was taking 55 vicodin pills and drinking a liter of vodka every day.
matthew once admitted in an interview: "when you watch each season of "friends" and observe my weight changes, you can track my addiction trajectory. when i gain weight, it's alcohol addiction; when i'm very thin, it's drug addiction."
▎matthew in different seasons of the american tv series "friends"
in an interview with the media in 2022, matthew revealed that he had only a 2% chance of survival when he was in the most dangerous situation.
it was the summer of 2019. due to drug abuse, matthew's colon burst. the surgery lasted for 7 hours, and the doctor said that the chance of survival was only 2%. after being in a coma for two weeks, he finally woke up, but had to live with a colostomy bag. after spending five frustrating months in the hospital,when matthew got home, he once again used the pain as an excuse to trick the doctor into prescribing opioids.。
to combat his alcohol and drug addiction, matthew has attended more than 6,000 alcoholics anonymous meetings, 15 rehab (withdrawal) sessions, and 65 physical (forced) detoxification sessions. he has 14 scars from abdominal surgeries.
addiction, regret, withdrawal, and relapse are almost the main themes of matthew's life."i had to wait until i was relatively sober and free from the turmoil of alcohol and drug addiction before i wrote all this down. most importantly, i was sure it would help people," matthew wrote in his memoir.
3
the surge in opioid abuse
matthew, who has struggled with drug addiction for half his life, is not an isolated case. a study by the council on foreign relations shows thatsince 2000, more than 1 million people have died in the united states from drug overdoses, the majority from opioids.
in his 2021 book empire of pain, american investigative journalist patrick keefe revealedthe sackler family and purdue pharma are the culprits behind the opioid abuse crisis.
purdue pharma
in 1996, purdue pharma, owned by the sackler family, developed a new painkiller, oxycontin. this new drug is highly addictive.but the sackler family concealed the drug's addictive properties, made his fortune by promoting and distributing oxycontin on a large scale.at purdue's lobbying, the u.s. food and drug administration approved the company's deceptive claim that oxycontin had an addiction rate of less than 1% and allowed it to list misleading information on the drug packaging.
over the past 20 years, purdue pharma has made a fortune. other opioid companies have followed suit, causing a surge in the number of drug addicts in the united states. data disclosed by the u.s. media show thatfrom 1999 to 2017, more than 7 million americans abused oxycontina large number of patients suffer from depression and even commit crimes.
▎the american tv series "dose of addiction" adapted from the oxycontin incident
matthew's experience is a microcosm of the hundreds of thousands of people who have died from drug abuse in the united states.
in 2019, the sackler family was fined a huge sum, forcing purdue pharma's headquarters to file for bankruptcy protection. in 2020, attorneys general from 25 states in the united states filed a class action lawsuit against purdue pharma.the company was criticized for intentionally deceiving doctors and the public, causing patients to become addicted to its drugs and sparking a nationwide opioid crisis.
purdue pharma finally reached an $8.3 billion settlement with the u.s. department of justice, admitting to three felony charges. the settlement also requires purdue pharma to dissolve and transform into a new company that provides addiction and overdose treatment drugs. the sackler family, the owner of purdue pharma, agreed to pay $225 million in civil liability compensation.the u.s. food and drug administration has not yet publicly acknowledged its responsibility.
▎the u.s. food and drug administration building. source: xinhua news agency
the oxycontin drug addiction case that shocked the entire united states is just the tip of the iceberg of drug abuse chaos in the united states.
the united states accounts for only 5% of the world's population, but uses 80% of the world's opioids.hill, the director of the robb drug rehabilitation center in ohio, said bluntly that the reason why drug addiction is so common in the united states is because "we are aa country that solves problems in a 'fast food' way needs to be fast, fast, fastfeeling lousy, here’s a pill. feeling in pain, here’s a pill. the doctor writes it down with a stroke of a pen, and the problem is solved.”
the pursuit of profits by capital and the lack of supervision have together indulged this "chronic poisoning" of society.
the medical journal the lancet predicts that between 2020 and 2029, approximately 1.22 million americans will die from opioid abuse, ranking first in the world.
references:
xinhua news agency, cctv news, guangming daily, global times, associated press, bbc
produced by guangzhou daily media key laboratorytext/lin chuanlingguangzhou daily·new flower city editors: lin chuanling, su wanqian
