Court documents have exposed Matthew Perry's tragic final hours, revealing that the 'Friends' star was taking ketamine six to eight times a day.
The actor died on October 28 last year at the age of 54 after overdosing in Los Angeles, and five people have been charged this week in connection with his death.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada said on Thursday that those involved, including Perry's personal assistant and two doctors, "took advantage" of him.
Perry had long battled to maintain sobriety after years of addiction struggles. He had relapsed in the year leading up to his death, reaching a point where he was using substances daily.
Court papers show that Perry spent £42,500 on ketamine in the month before he died.
Those charged are Perry’s live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, doctors Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia, drug dealer Jasveen Sangha and her middle man Eric Fleming.
It was said that Dr Chavez wrote a fraudulent prescription to Dr Plasencia who then sold the ketamine to Perry via Iwamasa.
Perry also obtained the drug from Sangha, who could sell it to Fleming and then to Iwamsa.
On the fatal day, Iwamasa is accused of injecting Perry with ketamine at 8.30am, at 12.45pm while he was watching a film and then 40 minutes later before he had a bath.
Iwamasa then left Perry to have the bath while he completed errands and returned to find him face down, dead in the water.
He had been taking the drug to treat depression, it has been reported, with Iwamasa giving him the treatment despite having no medical experience or education.
Court documents showed messages between the doctors, with one saying “I wonder how much this moron will pay” for the drug.
Dr Plasencia allegedly said to a patient that he knew Perry had spiralled into addiction but continued anyway.
Ketamine can be used by the most senior of medics in the UK but only for administering severe pain relief.
The amount found in Perry at the time of his death was an amount equivalent to putting someone under for general anaesthesia.
Dr Plasencia and Sangha pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial but the others have all pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at a later time.
