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What the Deuce!
The sad case of Matthew Perry’s death
It was big news when Matthew Perry, TV and movie star, unexpectedly died at age 54 a month or so ago. Almost everybody wants to live to a ripe old age — and very few of us would be happy at the prospect of dying as young as Perry did.
But I draw a distinction between premature deaths that occur beyond a person’s control (like Andy Kaufman dying in his 30’s of lung cancer even though he didn’t smoke), and what I call self-induced deaths like Matthew Perry’s. Yes, in case you missed it, Perry died with among other substances, ketamine in his system.
Ketamine is a legitimate drug used as a general anesthetic and for depression off-label. But recreational users also use it to get high. It relaxes the user and in Perry’s case, put him out whereupon he slumped into his hot tub and drowned. Perry did not die of natural causes. He died from either smoking or ingesting ketamine without the oversight of a doctor. In short, he caused his own death. I have never smoked ketamine. But I was in close quarters, locked in with criminals who did. It’s not a pretty drug.
Benjy was my first bunky, a Black near-geriatric suffering a 3-year sentence for cyber-robbing a bank. Somehow, his girlfriend got hold of a password that enabled him to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars before he got caught…
