MUMBAI: Friends star Matthew Perry received the Champion of Recovery award from US drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
 
Perry is no stranger to the White House; he played one of the president‘s counsels on The West Wing or, for that matter, to politics, since his Canadian mother was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau‘s press secretary.

The comedy actor was honoured not only for his outspoken support of president Barack Obama‘s effort to make rehabilitation-centered local drug courts a key component of the nation‘s approach to combating addiction, but also for his upfront discussion of his own experience with prescription drug addiction and recovery.
 
The certificate of appreciation lauds the actor for "giving a voice to the millions of Americans in recovery." Perry called the ONDCP honor "surreal." "During my darkest times, I never could have imagined receiving an award at the White House," he told.
 
Perry became hooked on prescription painkillers, which he frequently mixed with alcohol during the height of his success as part of the ensemble cast of the hit TV show Friends. After two trips to recovery, he had become a frequent public speaker on the perils of prescription drugs, national drug policy and his own experience with recovery.
 
"Over time, I learned that drug courts are a wonderful solution to one of the biggest problems facing our criminal justice system: people suffering from substance-use disorders who are caught in the cycle of arrest and incarceration," Perry wrote in the post that appeared on the White House website.