Joshua Bassett's ketamine addiction reached what he calls a “breaking point” before he got help, the actor and singer said while discussing his new memoir, Rookie: My Public, Private and Secret Life.
The 25-year-old, best known for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, told E! News that his drug use escalated to “consuming six baggies of ketamine, all by myself, every single night.” That is not exactly a wellness routine, and Bassett is not presenting it as one.
How Bassett describes the spiral
In the interview, Bassett said ketamine became harder to control as his tolerance increased quickly.
“For ketamine, the rate of your tolerance goes up by like 600 percent very quickly,” he said. “So, what used to take you a line to get high now takes you a whole bag.”
He described the addiction as less about partying than trying to function through distress.
“Eventually it became this out of control spiral where the only time I felt like I could just exist and cope was when I was out of my mind high,” Bassett said. “Ultimately, it did hit a breaking point where I needed to get help.”
According to Bassett, people close to him noticed he was “drowning” as he tried “to cope or feel good.” Their concern helped him find the resources he needed to begin recovery.
Why ayahuasca became part of his story
Bassett also spoke about using ayahuasca, a psychedelic sometimes discussed in connection with mental health treatment for conditions including depression, PTSD and addiction.
“When the ketamine addiction got to the point where that was my breaking point, that was a big shift in my life,” he said, before referring to his ayahuasca experience. “[Then] I had a pretty profound experience with Jesus that people don't necessarily understand, and I don't expect them to.”
He said the experience gave him something he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to find elsewhere.
“It gave me a peace that I was looking for in all these different addictions,” Bassett said.
That part of his account is personal, and he seems aware that not everyone will interpret it the same way. What is clear is that, for him, the experience became tied to a larger change in how he understood recovery, pain and faith.
What he wants others to know about addiction
Since receiving help, Bassett has spoken about addiction in a way that emphasizes compassion rather than punishment. He said people dealing with substance use are often ordinary people trying to manage emotional pain.
“The hardest thing is admitting you have a problem, because if you admit you have a problem, then that means you have to start dealing with the problem,” he said.
Bassett added that shame is not a useful recovery plan.
“The most important thing for anyone struggling with addiction is to have compassion on yourself, because you can't hate yourself out of addiction, you can't shame yourself out of addiction,” he said. “You can only lovingly invite yourself to a better decision.”
For families and friends watching someone struggle, Bassett offered a simple view of support: “the cure for addiction is connection.”
“Oftentimes [their] pain is due to trauma and wounds and loneliness and isolation,” he said. “You can't force someone to open up - loving them where they are is key.”
As he put it, “Love really is the solution for the wounds that we have.”
For free and confidential help with mental health or substance use disorders, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national helpline is available at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
