Joshua Bassett is candidly sharing his journey with addiction, a struggle that has deeply impacted his life. As an alumnus of "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series," he has now turned his attention to his personal memoir, "Rookie: My Public, Private, and Secret Life," where he candidly describes his addiction to ketamine. In the book, he shares that he would often consume six bags of ketamine every night, a habit that rapidly escalated his tolerance and led to a dangerous spiral.
"For ketamine, the rate of your tolerance goes up by like 600 percent very quickly," Joshua explains in an exclusive interview with E! News. "So, what used to take you a line to get high now takes you a whole bag."
The 25-year-old actor continued, "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." He reached a breaking point where he needed to seek help.
After members of his inner circle noticed that he was "drowning" in his attempt to cope with his addiction, Joshua was able to find the resources he needed to get better. Additionally, he had a transformative experience using ayahuasca, a psychedelic treatment used to address mental health conditions like 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," Joshua explained, referencing his ayahuasca trip. "[Then] I had a pretty profound experience with Jesus that people don't necessarily understand, and I don't expect them to."
He added about the hallucinogenic therapy, "It gave me a peace that I was looking for in all these different addictions."
Since receiving help, Joshua has become an advocate for those battling addiction, describing them as everyday people struggling to cope with pain. "The hardest thing is admitting you have a problem," he said. "If you admit you have a problem, then that means you have to start dealing with the problem."
He emphasized the importance of compassion for oneself in the struggle with addiction. "You can't hate yourself out of addiction, you can't shame yourself out of addiction. You can only lovingly invite yourself to a better decision."
As for advice for those whose loved ones are struggling with substance abuse, Joshua urges everyone to remember that "the cure for addiction is connection." "Oftentimes [their] pain is due to trauma and wounds and loneliness and isolation," he shared. "You can't force someone to open up—loving them where they are is key."
In conclusion, Joshua emphasized that "love really is the solution for the wounds that we have."
