Joshua Bassett 'Consumed 6 Baggies of Ketamine' Nightly While Battling 'Reckless Addiction' After Near-Fatal Hospitalization

Former Disney star Joshua Bassett confessed he was consuming "six bags of ketamine" every day at the height of his addiction, which included a near-fatal cardiac episode in 2021.

“My reckless addictions rapidly spiraled, relentlessly growing worse and worse and worse,” Bassett, 25, wrote in his new book, Rookie: My Public, Private, and Secret Life, which hit shelves on Tuesday, May 5. “The high highs and oh-so-low lows eventually caught up to me in New York.”

Bassett is best known for starring as Ricky Bowen in the Disney+ show, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which aired for four seasons from 2019 to 2023.

The actor was rushed to the hospital for heart failure and septic shock weeks after his 20th birthday in January 2021. Despite the scare, once he was discharged from the facility, he admitted to using drugs again to "numb the unspeakable pain."

“I was consuming six baggies of Ketamine, all by myself, every single night,” he recalled. “Instead of snorting a line, I’d down a whole bag in one whiff. Before even using the restroom some mornings, I’d inhale more. It was never enough.”

The TV star confessed to planning his day out based on his dealer's schedule, who didn't sell the drugs until 3 p.m.

According to Bassett, he would set his alarms to go off five minutes before 3 p.m. to allow time to go to the ATM and withdraw the "maximum daily amount" to make his drug purchase.

“After way too many weeks of this, I inevitably reached rock bottom,” he wrote. “One morning, I woke up and tried meditating.”

During the spiritual practice, he recalled feeling the "Holy Spirit" enter the room as he tried to "reach enlightenment."

“I was painfully reminded of the evil I had become; poor, wretched, naked and blind,” he concluded. “Instantly, I knew that I knew that I knew Jesus is the way, the truth and the life — and I desperately needed him.”

The Disney alum kept his substance abuse issues private but eventually reached a point where he felt he "wouldn't make it out alive." He compared the struggle to a "car wreck waiting to happen," adding, "It was only once I admitted I had a problem that I could truly get help."

Bassett has pointed to spirituality as the driving force in changing his outlook toward sobriety.

“I feel this new lease on life, I felt more peace than I ever experienced in my life,” he said during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show in 2024. “I’m, like, literally jumping for joy like I was a child again.”