Lamar Odom is opening up about recovering from addiction.
The former NBA star has battled quite the substance abuse in the past, particularly struggling with cocaine and sex addictions. You all know the story of when he and Khloe Kardashian first split, he would go on a four-day bender and was found unresponsive in Las Vegas, having has numerous strokes, seizures and two instances of his heart stopping.
He is now crediting his continued sobriety to drug therapy. The NBA star told Good Morning America that he’s been taking small doses of the synthetic drug ketamine under medical supervision for the past two years.
“I went to rehab and did some other things, but ketamine came into my life at the right time,” Odom told ABC News’ Steve Osunsami. “I’m feeling amazing.”
“I’m alive. I’m sober. I’m happy,” he continued.
Small doses of ketamine have been found useful in treating some mental health conditions. The FDA currently classifies the use of ketamine for mental health conditions as an “off-label use” of the drug.
Odom calls it the “healthy high,” and it has helped him overcome the urge to use drugs such as cocaine.
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“I don’t wake up looking to do lines … or waking up in a dark place 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.”
The basketball player previously told PEOPLE his upcoming documentary, Lamar Odom Reborn, is about “having the strength and the whereabouts to tell my own story, my way.”
“I’m actually happy to share [the things I’ve been through] with people to inspire them,” he said. “I get the same kind of feeling when people come up to me and say, ‘Lamar you are an incredible basketball player.’ It’s the same feeling when people come up to me about adversities I’ve gone through, such as drugs. I’ve overcome many battles and they can relate to it and it inspires them. So, I feel good about sharing my life and moments I might not have been so proud of at the time.”
“It’s nice to look back at different times in your life and see it sort of in third person,” he added.
