Lamar Odom credits the drug ketamine with keeping him sober.
The former NBA player, who survived a near-fatal overdose in 2015, said in a new interview that receiving small doses of the anesthetic for the past two years under supervision has played a critical role in his recovery.
“I went to rehab and did some other things, but ketamine came into my life at the right time,” Odom, 41, said on “Good Morning America” Monday.
“I’m feeling amazing,” he continued. “I’m alive, I’m sober, I’m happy.”
Ketamine is typically used by medical personnel and veterinarians, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. In 2019, the FDA approved a nasal spray medication that contains the anesthetic for use by adults battling treatment-resistant depression.
“GMA” noted after Odom’s interview that health officials have discovered that small doses of ketamine can potentially be helpful to those struggling with “addictions, PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], anxiety, suicidal feelings and other treatment-resistant mental health conditions.”
Odom, who was previously married to Khloé Kardashian, has long been candid about his struggles and the aftermath of his overdose nearly six years ago.
“All my doctors that see me say I’m a walking miracle,” he told Kevin Hart in a 2018 interview. “I had 12 strokes and six heart attacks when I was in a coma.”
Odom told “GMA” on Monday that he refers to his current treatment as “the healthy high.”
The 6-foot-10 athlete, whose journey will be chronicled in the upcoming documentary “Lamar Odom Reborn,” raved on the ABC morning show that he no longer wakes up “in a dark place.”
“I don’t wake up looking to do lines … or feeling unfulfilled,” he explained. “When Kobe [Bryant] passed away, you know, the old Lamar, that’d have been every excuse in the world for me to go get high, [but] doing drugs didn’t even enter my mind.”
Odom and Bryant, who died in January 2020 in a helicopter crash, were teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers from 2004 to 2011.
“Lamar Odom Reborn” premieres May 20.