# Matthew Perry from Friends dies, RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [October 29, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250 "2023-10-29T00:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/161 "2024-08-18T13:30:47Z")
I don’t see anybody really trying to exonerate Matthew Perry in the tragic ending to a decades-long battle with Substance Use Disorder. What I _do_ see is that many of us are trying to avoid invoking the [**Sackler Family**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackler_family) approach of methodically and solely blaming the victim in order to avoid being held to account for your own morally repugnant actions. I suspect that [**the DOJ**](https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/five-defendants-including-two-doctors-charged-connection-actor-matthew-perrys-fatal) has some strong cases against these defendants. I also think that – in criminal law – “I was in fear for my job” is probably a weaker argument than “I was in fear for my life” as a defense against charges. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/162 "2024-08-18T13:38:41Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > One of them was his personal assistant. For him are you certain it wasn’t a case of “you help me get drugs–or you get fired”? I’d like to think that I’d decide that was not a job that I was interested in keeping. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/163 "2024-08-18T13:56:21Z")
A lot of people go into medicine because of the financial rewards. While greed isn’t a necessary skill to become a doctor, it’s not rare, either. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/164 "2024-08-18T14:05:54Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > Perry was a co-conspirator > > He’s already served his life sentence. Well said. Nothing more to add. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/165 "2024-08-18T14:55:53Z")
IIRC from his autobiography, Perry flew back to Switzerland on a private jet for something like $75k to refill a prescription to which he was addicted because he was refused in the US. I may not have all the details right since it was an audiobook, but that was the gist. He was a man with money to throw around, which is never helpful for people with the intense addictiveness he had. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/166 "2024-08-18T19:45:12Z")
A post was split to a new topic: [Banjo\_scruggs Sock and Troll Posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banjo-scruggs-sock-and-troll-posts/1005885) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/167 "2024-08-18T21:31:17Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > “When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I was thinking of that quotation myself. Kudos. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/168 "2024-08-19T03:59:51Z")
As a Rush fan since I was 14, of course I had to read Geddy Lee’s autobiography when it came out late last year. They started making really good money in the late 1970s, which also coincided with the peak of cocaine use overall, and they all realized this was becoming a problem, not so much because any of them couldn’t give it up, as that a lot of really skanky people had entered the band’s orbit. He, for one, was thankful that he was a “take it or leave it” kind of person. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/169 "2024-08-19T11:00:24Z")
Are most people who die of drug addiction wealthy? I really wouldn’t think so, but I’m not educated about this topic. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/170 "2024-08-19T11:20:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I hope he found some peace at the end. Apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/171 "2024-08-19T12:52:46Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Are most people who die of drug addiction wealthy? I really wouldn’t think so, but I’m not educated about this topic. No, but you don’t hear about the poor ones. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/172 "2024-08-19T18:48:34Z")
Another perspective: > **[Why it’s important to prosecute celebrity drug deaths and the message it...](https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/19/us/matthew-perry-celebrity-drug-deaths-charges/index.html)** > > The recent charging of five people in connection with actor Matthew Perry’s 2023 ketamine-related death marks the latest example of authorities holding drug dealers and enablers accountable in high-profile, celebrity deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/173 "2024-08-19T19:59:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > That level of addiction is beyond my comprehension. It seems most would die quickly. Matthew’s massive tv fortune prolonged his suffering. He even survived a colon rupture from drug constipation. He hired a substance abuse counselor from a Rehab center to live-in full time. That level of extreme one-on-one care isn’t available for street addicts. They just OD and die in alleyways. I’m not sure I agree. His addiction did kill him fairly young. I used to have such an addiction. But I also had a job, responsibilities and family. I didn’t have a lot of money and certainly no influence so it made getting drugs in quantity, problematic. At that time you could legally get phone prescriptions from Florida (I lived in Texas). So I had them Fed-Exd to me. It was a lot to be sure, but there were limits. Had I had Perry’s “massive tv fortune”, I would be dead now. Not every addict ends up in the street. And if you don’t, you just suffer silently until to pull wears off. > [@suranyi](#): > > In his book he talks about needing to take fifty-something OxyContin pills every single day. I can’t even imagine. I was prescribed Oxy 10/325s. I was taking so many it became impossible to keep track so I wrote down when I took them in a little spiral notebook. Years later I came across one of of those notebooks. At my peak I was taking 26 a day. That’s 260 mgs of Oxy and 8,450 mgs of Tylenol _ **a day** _ - every day. Not to mention the oodles of Soma I was eating along with them. No one ever knew, or at least questioned, my sobriety, including close friends and family. ETA: For those wondering, that was 30 or so years ago. At this time I am showing no residual effects. I am clean and sober and have been for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/174 "2024-08-19T21:20:26Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > For those wondering, that was 30 or so years ago. At this time I am showing no residual effects. I am clean and sober and have been for a while. Congratulations, brother. 16 years and counting. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/175 "2024-08-19T21:51:06Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Congratulations, brother. 16 years and counting. Thank you, appreciated. To you as well. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/176 "2024-08-19T22:40:03Z")
(Some of them would be, if they weren’t users) The famous ones - yeah, you hear about them. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/177 "2024-08-19T22:47:36Z")
I won’t post links because it could reveal my exact location, but earlier this year in my city, in fact just down the road, a house was set on fire and two people, a man and a woman were found dead. Turns out they were murdered and the house was set on fire to try and hide evidence, and all of the people involved were very heavily involved in the drug trade in our area, mostly meth but heroin and other drugs of addiction as well. The man who died was basically the kingpin. His wife, from whom he was separated but she didn’t consider him estranged, denied being addicted to drugs but she was definitely a trainwreck in her own right. Unfortunately, the answer to the next question is yes - they did have children. It didn’t sound like either parent was much involved with taking care of them, on any level. The Rhoden mass murder in Ohio, an intra-family tragedy that resulted in 8 deaths and made worldwide headlines and STILL isn’t fully solved, was catalyzed by a succession of bad marijuana deals. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/178 "2024-08-20T03:26:08Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > 8,450 mgs of Tylenol _ **a day** _ It’s a wonder you still have a liver ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/179 "2024-08-20T03:50:58Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > It’s a wonder you still have a liver I didn’t know one could consume that level of Tylenol and live. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250/180 "2024-08-21T02:28:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I didn’t know one could consume that level of Tylenol and live. WOW. I’ve been worried about 3000 mg. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/matthew-perry-from-friends-dies-rip/992250.md?page=10)