The ‘ketamine queen’ and the dose that led to Matthew Perry’s death

Two doctors and three other people, including a personal assistant to actor Matthew Perry, have been charged with supplying the Friends star with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused his overdose death nearly a year ago, authorities said on Thursday (Los Angeles time).

The defendants were part of a criminal network that distributed the drug to Perry and others, US Attorney Martin Estrada said. Among those charged is Jasveen Sangha, whom prosecutors allege is a drug dealer known to customers as the “ketamine queen”.

Matthew Perry in 2015. The actor, who starred as Chandler Bing in the hit series Friends, died last year aged 54.Credit: AP

Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety but also abused by recreational users.

According to authorities, Sangha sold the doses that killed Perry from her “stash house” in North Hollywood.

Sangha, 41, pleaded not guilty in US District Court in downtown Los Angeles with Dr Salvador Plasencia, 42.

“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said at a press conference in Los Angeles. “They knew what they were doing was risking great danger to Mr Perry. But they did it anyway.”

Jasveen Sangha, one of five people charged over Matthew Perry’s death. Prosecutors allege Sangha is a drug dealer known to customers as the “ketamine queen”.

The probe found that, speaking of Perry, one doctor wrote in a text message, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets find out”, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday, US time.

Perry died in October due to a ketamine overdose and prosecutors said he received several injections on the day he died from his live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who found Perry dead later that day and was the first to talk to investigators.

After learning that the ketamine she sold killed Perry, Sangha searched Google for “can ketamine be listed as a cause of death”, officials said, ABC7 News reported, citing authorities.

Sangha, a dual US and British national, is known for hosting parties for friends in Hollywood, the Daily Mail reports. She regularly appeared in social media wearing luxury jewellery and sneakers.

Sangha sold the doses that killed Perry from her “stash house” in North Hollywood, authorities said.

There has been a huge surge in ketamine use as a treatment for depression, anxiety and pain in recent years. While the drug isn’t approved for those conditions, doctors are free to prescribe drugs for so-called off-label uses.

Perry had been receiving regular ketamine infusion treatments for depression – in amounts not nearly enough to account for his death – from his regular doctors, who were not among those charged, authorities said.

When those doctors refused to give him more, he went in desperation to others.

US Attorney Martin Estrada (centre) takes questions at a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.Credit: AP

“We are not talking about legitimate ketamine treatment,” Estrada said. “We’re talking about two doctors who abused the trust they had, abused their licences to put another person’s life at risk.”

Drug Enforcement Administrator boss Anne Milgram said in one instance the actor paid $US2000 ($3000) for a vial of ketamine that cost one of the physicians about $US12. Perry paid the doctors about $US55,000 cash in the two months before his death, Estrada said.

Two of the people, including one of the doctors charged, were arrested on Thursday, Estrada said. Two of the defendants, including Iwamasa, have pleaded guilty to charges already and a third person has agreed to plead guilty.

Multiple messages left seeking comment from lawyers or offices for all the defendants have not yet been returned.

Among those arrested, Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and also two charges related to allegations he falsified records after Perry’s death.

Sangha and Plasencia could make their first court appearances later on Thursday. Plasencia could get up to 120 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said, and Sangha could get life in prison.

Records show Plasencia’s medical licence has been in good standing with no records of complaints, although it is set to expire in October.

A San Diego physician, Dr Mark Chavez, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Prosecutors allege Chavez funnelled ketamine to Plasencia, securing some of the drug from a wholesale distributor through a fraudulent prescription.

The prosecutor said the defendants exchanged messages soon after Perry’s death referencing ketamine as the cause of death. Estrada said they deleted messages and falsified medical records in an attempt to cover up their involvement.

Matthew Perry (right) with his Friends castmates at the sitcom’s height in the 1990s.

Los Angeles police said in May that they were working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Postal Inspection Service with a probe into why the 54-year-old had so much of the surgical anaesthetic in his system.

Iwamasa found the actor face down in his hot tub on October 28, and paramedics who were called immediately declared him dead.

The assistant received the ketamine from Erik Fleming, who has pleaded guilty to obtaining the drug from Sangha and delivering it to Iwamasa. In all, he delivered 50 vials of ketamine for Perry’s use, including 25 handed over four days before the actor’s death.

Perry’s autopsy, released in December, found that the amount of ketamine in his blood was in the range used for general anaesthesia during surgery.

Perry had years of struggles with addiction dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest television stars of his generation as Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.

AP, Reuters

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