Read the full article on KETV 7
‘Ketamine Queen’ gets 15 years in prison for selling Matthew Perry the drugs that killed him
FIVE ON YOUR HEALTH TONIGHT. A CLOSER LOOK AT KETAMINE. THE DRUG IS AT THE CENTER OF A NEW CRIMINAL CASE FILED YESTERDAY IN FEDERAL COURT. IT CHARGES FIVE PEOPLE, INCLUDING TWO DOCTORS, WITH GIVING LARGE DOSES OF KETAMINE TO ACTOR MATTHEW PERRY IN THE WEEKS BEFORE HIS DEATH LAST YEAR. THE ACTOR WAS WELL KNOWN FOR HIS ROLE AS CHANDLER BING, OF COURSE, ON THE TV SITCOM FRIENDS AND FOR HIS LONG PUBLIC STRUGGLE WITH ADDICTION. POLICE SAY PERRY DIED FACE DOWN IN HIS HOT TUB FROM THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF KETAMINE. HERE TO TALK ABOUT IT, DOCTOR SCOTT HADLAND, WHO’S THE CHIEF OF ADOLESCENT MEDICINE AT MASS GENERAL FOR CHILDREN. DOCTOR, THANKS FOR YOUR TIME. THANKS FOR HAVING ME. ALL RIGHT. LET’S START WITH KETAMINE. IT’S NOT REALLY A HOUSEHOLD NAME. WHAT IS IT DESIGNED TO DO? WHAT’S ITS PURPOSE? RIGHT. YEAH. NO. THIS IS A REALLY TRAGIC STORY. YOU KNOW, WITH SOMEBODY WHO IS REALLY TALENTED, WHOSE LIFE ENDED EARLY AND, YOU KNOW, KETAMINE IS NORMALLY USED AS AN ANESTHETIC. IT’S A MEDICATION THAT CAUSES SOMEONE TO LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS, CAUSES PEOPLE TO DISSOCIATE FROM REALITY. IT DECREASES PAIN. AND SO IT’S REALLY ONLY TYPICALLY USED FOR MEDICAL PROCEDURES AS AN ANESTHETIC AND NOT USED, YOU KNOW, SORT OF OUTSIDE OF THAT SETTING. AND UNFORTUNATELY, WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT BECAUSE OF THESE SAME PROPERTIES, PEOPLE WILL SOMETIMES USE KETAMINE PURCHASED ON THE ILLICIT MARKET AS A WAY TO GET HIGH. SO IF YOU BUY POWDER ON THE ILLICIT MARKET, FOR EXAMPLE, POWDERED KETAMINE CAN BE EITHER SNORTED OR SMOKED. LIQUID KETAMINE CAN BE MIXED INTO A DRINK OR IN THIS CASE, WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENED WITH MATTHEW PERRY, IT CAN BE INJECTED INTO THE BLOODSTREAM AND UNFORTUNATELY, KETAMINE IS A MEDICATION THAT REALLY CARRIES WITH IT A REALLY HIGH RISK OF OVERDOSE. SO ALLEGEDLY, DOCTORS WERE INVOLVED HERE. WE’VE LEARNED FROM COURT DOCUMENTS, PERRY BEGAN USING KETAMINE TO TREAT ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION. IS THAT AT ALL LEGAL? RIGHT. SO WHAT’S INTERESTING ABOUT KETAMINE IS I JUST FINISHED SAYING THAT IT’S TYPICALLY USED FOR MEDICAL PROCEDURES AS AN ANESTHETIC, BUT IT ACTUALLY HAS BEEN STUDIED IN A NEW WAY IN RECENT YEARS WHERE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WHAT WE CALL TREATMENT RESISTANT DEPRESSION, MEANING THAT DEPRESSION THAT JUST HASN’T RESPONDED TO OTHER TREATMENTS THAT WE WOULD TYPICALLY USE, PEOPLE CAN RECEIVE KETAMINE AS A WAY TO TREAT DEPRESSION, BUT IT’S ONLY EVER DONE IN A CLINICAL SETTING CAREFULLY MONITORED BY A DOCTOR WHO’S WATCHING YOUR VITAL SIGNS, OFTEN AT MUCH, MUCH, MUCH LOWER DOSES THAN MATTHEW PERRY WAS RECEIVING WHEN HE WAS BEING INJECTED WITH IT AT HIS HOME. AND AGAIN, DONE IN THIS VERY SORT OF CAREFUL, METHODICAL, STUDIED WAY. AND IN FACT, WE KNOW THAT MATTHEW PERRY WAS ALSO RECEIVING THIS TYPE OF TREATMENT IN A CLINICAL SETTING. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, THE KETAMINE THAT HE WAS RECEIVING AT HOME THROUGH INJECTIONS WAS AT MUCH, MUCH HIGHER DOSES. DOCTOR HADLAND, I WANT TO ASK YOU QUICKLY ABOUT THIS TRIPLE E OUTBREAK. WE UNDERSTAND THERE HAS NOW BEEN A HUMAN CASE HERE IN THE CENTRAL PART OF THE STATE, IN WORCESTER COUNTY. YOU ARE A PARENT. YOU’VE GOT KIDS. WE CAN ALL REMEMBER THAT TERRIBLE OUTBREAK OF 2019 AND 2020 WHEN SCHOOLS WERE PUTTING CURFEWS ON AFTER SCHOOL EVENTS. HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU? WE’VE GOT ONE CASE. IT’S THE FIRST HUMAN CASE IN FOUR YEARS. DOES THAT WORRY YOU? YEAH, IT LOOKS JOSH. YES. I THINK WE NEED TO BE REALLY ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THIS AND MAKE SURE THAT THAT, YOU KNOW, WE’RE DOING OKAY HERE. WE REALLY NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT PARENTS ARE KEEPING AN EYE OUT AND MAKING SURE THAT THEIR KIDS ARE TAKING PRECAUTIONS TO HELP PROTECT THEM AGAINST MOSQUITOES. AND I APOLOGIZE HERE FOR WHAT I CAN SEE ARE SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES. WE GOT YOUR BACK. WE CAN SEE YOU NOW. SO, YEAH, THIS IS THIS IS IT IS A CAUSE FOR CONCERN, IS WHAT YOU’RE SAYING? ABSOLUTELY. YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT WE NEED TO DO WHAT WE CAN TO KEEP KIDS INDOORS, ESPECIALLY DURING THE HOURS BETWEEN DUSK AND DAWN, WHEN MOSQUITOES ARE MOST LIKELY TO BITE. DO WHAT WE CAN TO USE MOSQUITO REPELLENTS. DEET IS SAFE TO USE IN CHILDREN. YOU CAN ALSO USE LEMON EUCALYPTUS AS A WAY TO PREVENT IT, AND WE WANT TO DO WHAT WE CAN TO TO KEEP CHILDREN AND EVERYBODY SAFE. THIS IS JUST ONE CASE, YES, BUT TRIPLE E TENDS TO HAPPEN IN OUTBREAKS. AND AS WE SAW SEVERAL YEARS AGO WHEN THERE WAS AN OUTBREAK, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF CASES THAT CLUSTERED TOGETHER. YEAH. AND SOME CAN BE FATAL. A NUMB
Advertisement
A federal judge on Wednesday handed down a sentence of 15 years in prison to a woman who pleaded guilty to selling “Friends” star Matthew Perry the ketamine that killed him in 2023.U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett gave the sentence to 42-year-old Jasveen Sangha. She became the third defendant sentenced of the five people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the overdose of the 54-year-old actor. His role as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” in the 1990s and 2000s made him one of the biggest television stars of the era.Sangha is the only one whose plea deal included an acknowledgment of causing Perry’s death.Prosecutors had recommend a 15-year sentence. They cast her in court filings as a “Ketamine Queen” who had an elaborate drug operation catering to high-end clients to give herself a jet-setting lifestyle despite a life of privilege.Sangha’s attorneys said in their sentencing filing that the time she has spent in jail since her August, 2024 indictment should be sufficient. They pointed to her lack of a previous criminal record and exemplary behavior as an inmate, as well as the unlikelihood she would return to a life of drug dealing.Perry was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death.Perry had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal off-label treatment for depression. But he sought more than the doctor would give him. That at first led him to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling Perry ketamine and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after prosecutors asked for three years. And it later led Perry to Sangha, who sold him 25 vials of ketamine, including the fatal dose, for $6,000 in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said. Another doctor, who admitted to providing Plasencia the ketamine he sold to Perry, was sentenced to eight months of home detention. Perry’s assistant and his friend, who admitted acting as the actor’s middlemen, are awaiting sentencing.The judge said she is calibrating how to sentence each of the five defendants to make sense as a whole.Sangha pleaded guilty in September to one count of using her home for drug distribution, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. She also admitted to selling drugs to another man, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, who had no connection to Perry, before his overdose death in 2019.The prosecution said that despite Sangha’s plea, she continued drug dealing, showing her lack of remorse.Their sentencing filing says that in 2020, when she learned that the ketamine she sold McLaury contributed to his death, “She didn’t care and kept selling.” In 2023, the filing says that when she learned she sold Perry the drugs that caused his death, “Her reaction was the same: she didn’t care and kept selling.”
A federal judge on Wednesday handed down a sentence of 15 years in prison to a woman who pleaded guilty to selling “Friends” star Matthew Perry the ketamine that killed him in 2023.
U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett gave the sentence to 42-year-old Jasveen Sangha. She became the third defendant sentenced of the five people who have pleaded guilty in connection with the overdose of the 54-year-old actor. His role as Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” in the 1990s and 2000s made him one of the biggest television stars of the era.
Advertisement
Sangha is the only one whose plea deal included an acknowledgment of causing Perry’s death.
Prosecutors had recommend a 15-year sentence. They cast her in court filings as a “Ketamine Queen” who had an elaborate drug operation catering to high-end clients to give herself a jet-setting lifestyle despite a life of privilege.
Sangha’s attorneys said in their sentencing filing that the time she has spent in jail since her August, 2024 indictment should be sufficient. They pointed to her lack of a previous criminal record and exemplary behavior as an inmate, as well as the unlikelihood she would return to a life of drug dealing.
Perry was found dead in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death.
Perry had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal off-label treatment for depression. But he sought more than the doctor would give him. That at first led him to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted to illegally selling Perry ketamine and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after prosecutors asked for three years. And it later led Perry to Sangha, who sold him 25 vials of ketamine, including the fatal dose, for $6,000 in cash four days before his death, prosecutors said.
Another doctor, who admitted to providing Plasencia the ketamine he sold to Perry, was sentenced to eight months of home detention. Perry’s assistant and his friend, who admitted acting as the actor’s middlemen, are awaiting sentencing.
The judge said she is calibrating how to sentence each of the five defendants to make sense as a whole.
Sangha pleaded guilty in September to one count of using her home for drug distribution, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. She also admitted to selling drugs to another man, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, who had no connection to Perry, before his overdose death in 2019.
The prosecution said that despite Sangha’s plea, she continued drug dealing, showing her lack of remorse.
Their sentencing filing says that in 2020, when she learned that the ketamine she sold McLaury contributed to his death, “She didn’t care and kept selling.” In 2023, the filing says that when she learned she sold Perry the drugs that caused his death, “Her reaction was the same: she didn’t care and kept selling.”
