TORONTO — Ottawa-raised Matthew Perry received the Champion of Recovery award Monday at the White House for “giving a voice to the millions of Americans in recovery.”
Perry, honoured by the Office of National Control Policy, was presented with the award by U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske.
The 43-year-old Go On star battled an addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol while on the hit series Friends and checked himself into rehab twice.
Perry, whose mother Suzanne Perry was press secretary to prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is the Celebrity Ambassador for the National Association of Drug Court Professional and has been outspoken in his support of alternative courts that offer rehabilitation instead of incarceration.
In a post on the White House website, Perry wrote: “Over time, I learned that drug courts are a wonderful solution to one of the biggest problems facing our criminal justice system: people suffering from substance-use disorders who are caught in the cycle of arrest and incarceration. Many of these individuals require treatment, not a jail cell, and drug courts provide them a means of getting the treatment they need.”
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