Actor Matthew Perry's legacy to live on through Canadian foundation to aid people with addictions

A new organization that aims to help people struggling with addictions officially launched in Ottawa Thursday, named after the late Matthew Perry.

The actor and playwright grew up in Ottawa before finding international stardom on the TV series "Friends." He died last year in Los Angeles after struggling for years with his own addictions to drugs and alcohol. In the year since his death, charges have been laid against several people accused of supplying Perry with the drug ketamine, including a doctor who pleaded guilty to a drug charge earlier this month.

The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada was founded by Perry's family and friends. Executive director Caitlin Morrison is his sister. Perry's mother Suzanne Morrison is also on the board of directors, alongside Brian Murray, Vice President of the Ottawa-based Waterford Property Group and a childhood friend of Perry's, and Cara Vaccarino, the President and CEO of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.

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"The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada was lovingly founded by Matthew's family and friends. We work to honour him by carrying on his commitment to helping others through recovery," the foundation says on its website.

Perry's stepfather Keith Morrison told Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll that Perry wanted to be remembered for helping others.

"At the end of that book of his, he wrote that if he could be known for anything, it would be known for helping people with the same problem that he has had. The least we can do is carry on that mission of his," Morrison said.

Perry turned his Malibu mansion into a sober living facility for men in 2013. It operated until 2015. A U.S. version of the Matthew Perry Foundation was created in 2023.

The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada says less than 20 per cent of those in outpatient programs maintain sobriety across an entire year and 85 per cent of individuals relapse within one year of treatment. In 2023, an average of 35 people in Canada were killed by opioid or stimulant toxicity every day and every 41 minutes, someone in Canada dies from opioid or stimulant toxicity.

Harms from substance use were estimated to cost Canada more than $49.1 billion in 2020 alone, the Foundations says.

Morrison recounted his own experience with Perry's relapses and the message Perry had for him.

"A few years ago, I was frustrated about the fact that Matthew continued to relapse after many, many, many rehabs. He said he spent something like $9 million – he could afford it; most people can't – but I got frustrated one day because he was falling back into it and he said, 'You can't get mad at an addict,' and it's something that's lived with me ever since," Morrison said. "You can't get mad at people who are addicted... You have to figure out what the solution is. There is and are solutions and we're determined to find it."

The Foundation says its goal is to "close the gap between rehabilitation and a dearth of support options following treatment through programs that provide lasting impact."

Morrison says the Foundation is focused on "different things that we haven't tried before" including research and treatments.

"We discovered over and over again – though God bless him for trying – a 30-day recovery in a rehab centre doesn't do the trick. People relapse constantly after these things," Morrison said. "There needs to be something more. There needs to be a continuing, longer-term treatment. There needs to be, for most people, some kind of economic stability, a home, a place to live… All of these problems have to be addressed at the same time and in a comprehensive way."

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The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada says it will support individuals in their first year of recovery from substance use disorders following treatment, through things like housing support, access to mental health care, peer support, training and placement services and access to healthy food. It will also fund research into addiction treatments.

Donations can be made on the Foundation's website.