The One Where Matthew Perry Meets Peter Hitchens . . . Friends star and Mail writer go head-to-head on Newsnight in heated row over drugs

Friends star argued in favour of specialist courts for drugs addicts

Mail on Sunday writer Peter Hitchens argued law is failing, by being 'nice'

Newsnight editor says both men were escorted out via different exits



At one point the actor referred to Mr Hitchens as 'Santa'

Mr Hitchens hit back: 'This is a very serious subject and you treat it with immense levity'



At height of troubles Perry drank bottle of vodka per night and 30 tablets

He told Hitchens: 'I'm a drug addict and if I have a drink I can't stop,' he said, adding: '(you say) I'm choosing to do that'

Hitchens responded: ' There is a fashion for dismissing the ability of people to take control over their own lives and make excuses for them'.

Friends star Matthew Perry was involved in a heated TV debate last night in which he claimed that questioning drug addiction is 'as ludicrous as saying Peter Pan is real'.

The American actor, who has battled drink and drug abuse, appeared on BBC's Newsnight to argue in favour of specialist courts where former addicts sit as lay magistrates dealing with abuse-related crimes.

Fighting the opposite corner, Mail on Sunday journalist and anti-drug campaigner Peter Hitchens railed against the idea and what he described as the 'fantasy of addiction'.



After the clash, Newsnight editor Ian Katz tweeted that he had dispatched a producer to take Perry and Mr Hitchens out of the building through different exits.

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Campaigner: Friends star Matthew Perry, who has battled drink and drug abuse, appeared on BBC's Newsnight to argue in favour of specialist courts where former addicts sit as lay magistrates

Counter-argument: Anti-drugs campaigner and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens countered that more people take illegal substances since possession was effectively made legal

Aftermath: Newsnight editor Ian Katz said he had sent a producer to escort the two guests out via separate exits after their row

'You are making a point that is as ludicrous as saying Peter Pan is real,' Perry, who reached fame as sitcom character Chandler Bing, retorted.

At one point he referred to the Mail on Sunday columnist as 'Santa' and told him to 'read something other than your book' in reference to Mr Hitchens' essay The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender To Drugs.

Mr Hitchens, who has previously debated drugs policy with former heroin addict and comedian Russell Brand, countered that more people take illegal substances since possession was effectively made legal.

'This is a very serious subject and you treat it with immense levity,' he told Perry.

'The policy which you so smugly and loftily advocate, this policy has led to disaster in Western countries for decades.'



Heated debate: Matthew Perry appeared alongside former social worker Baroness Meacher and opposite Peter Hitchens in the debate hosted by Jeremy Paxman



'The policy which you so smugly and loftily advocate, this policy has led to disaster in Western countries for decades.'

Perry spoke openly about his troubles with addiction.

'I'm a drug addict and if I have a drink I can't stop,' he said, adding: '(you say) I'm choosing to do that.



'It's an obsession of the mind and an allergy of the body. For example, if I think about alcohol I cannot stop. It's about controlling that'.

Peter Hitchens responded: 'People have problems with drugs and drink. People like taking them and don't want to stop. It doesn't mean they have a disease.



'There is an immense fashion at the moment for dismissing the ability of people to take control over their own lives and to make excuses for them.



'For more than 50 years we have treated alleged addiction as not a crime, we have treated it as a disease, and now we have many more drug users than we did then'.



Behind the scenes: Matthew Perry (right) has battled drink and drug addiction since starring in hit U.S. comedy Friends (pictured)

Troubled: Matthew Perry has long struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs, which at its worst was a bottle of vodka a night with 30 or so tablets



A think tank has been arguing that drug addicts should become magistrates in special drugs courts.



The idea, from the Policy Exchange, will help people quit, they say,

Mr Perry has flown into the UK from America to give it his backing.

Before he appeared on Newsnight he opened the Policy Exchange talk on Monday evening with ‘I’m Matthew and I’m an alcoholic.’

The actor last night admitted his struggles with alcohol started when he was just 13 years old after he consumed a bottle of wine at a friends party.

During his high profile career Mr Perry told how he struggled with alcoholism, admitting he would drink a bottle of vodka a night in his home.

Admission: Matthew Perry spoke at the Policy Exchange last night and started his speech with 'I'm Matthew and I'm an alcoholic'

Mr Perry backing drugs courts said: ‘In America this system is the one thing republicans and democrats agree on. Because it rehabilitates and it also saves money.

‘We have come here today to show Downing Street our programme, a programme which will save lives and money. And I don’t know many politicians who would remain popular if they ignored a system which would save lives and save money.’

Perry has seen his career flounder after becoming one of the world's biggest stars in Friends.

He told ABC News in May that he became an expert at hiding his troubles from co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.



He went to a 28-day program in 1997 for Vicodin addiction and saw his weight fluctuate wildly over the next few years - once dropping as low as 145 pounds.



Perry again entered rehab in February 2001 to treat an addiction to the opioids Vicodin and methadone, as well as amphetamines and alcohol.

His problems began when he checked into a Minnesota clinic after he became addicted to the painkiller Vicodin, following a jet-ski accident.



At his lowest ebb, he was drinking two pints of vodka a day and swallowing up to 30 tablets. At the same time, he was admitted to hospital with agonising pancreatitis - an inflammation often caused by drink and drugs abuse.

At the time he also crashed his car into the porch of a house.



Close: Matthew Perry has admitted he became an expert at hiding his troubles from co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow

Incident: At one of his lowest point Matthew Perry damaged his brand new Porsche and caused £10,000 worth of damage to a Hollywood mansion after a crash

During his rehabilitation he told fellow addicts at a counselling session that his wages of £550,000 a week were responsible for his addiction to tranquillisers, according to a U.S. magazine.



Close: Matthew Perry said his father John Bennett Perry, left, had warned him to not to be a 'big shot' after his Friends success, but he admitted he 'forgot all about it' when Friends became a worldwide hit

'I could go out and do whatever I wanted, buy anything I wanted and overkill took over. I wanted it all - and I took it all,' he said.



'My dad advised me years ago that if I became successful not to become a big-shot . . . but I forgot all about his warning after Friends took off.



'I became a spoiled Hollywood party boy and to make matters worse I started to hate myself. That's when I looked for an artificial high and got into trouble.'

Following the final series of the sitcom in 2004, which followed the messy private lives of a group of six New Yorkers, Canadian Perry has suffered a slump.



In 2006, he landed the lead role as a TV writer in the much-vaunted Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. But it was dropped by U.S. network NBC after one series because of poor ratings and mixed reviews.



Perry's attempts at a film career have been equally disappointing. He starred as a chronically depressed film writer in the quickly forgotten movie Numb, which was mauled by critics and flopped at the box office.



He has admitted to suffering from depression, and has said he locked himself away for days on end in his Hollywood Hills home to escape the pressure of fame. He has also fought a long battle with addictions to drink and prescription drugs.

