Drug overdoses aren’t uncommon in Hollywood, but when there’s a bigger story to be told. Matthew Perry, who starred in the 90’s sitcom “Friends,” shocked millions when he passed due to a ketamine overdose.
One year after the incident, new information has come to light on the situation. Two of his doctors and an alleged Hollywood drug dealer, were arrested for distributing and prescribing the ketamine to him and causing his death. The three have all decided to plead guilty on the charges of conspiring to distribute ketamine.
The defendants that conspired in the sale and distribution of the drug to Perry are Jasveen Sangha, Dr. Salvador Plasencia, Kenneth Iwamasa and Dr. Mark Chavez. According to the U.S. aAttorney’s office, Jasveen Sangha is known as the “Ketamine Queen” of North Hollywood and was charged with multiple counts of possessing drugs with the intent to distribute. Dr. Mark Chavez previously had been running a ketamine clinic and attempted to exploit Perry for as much money as possible by selling him the drugs at a higher rate.
After obtaining the ketamine from Chavez, Dr. Salvador Plasencia sent it to Kenneth Iwamasa. Iwamasa, who had no medical licensing or training, yet personally and improperly injected Perry with the ketamine for no real medical purpose. Plasencia was aware that Iwamasa had no medical training and ignored the safety of Perry by blindly allowing him to administer ketamine to him on a minimum of seven occasions.
The ketamine used by Perry on the day of his death was from Sangha, who was well aware of the damage that the drug could cause when it was distributed. While trying to cover up the truth Plasencia faked and altered medical records and claimed to have legitimate reasoning for using ketamine as a treatment for Perry.
Based on their charges the defendants are all facing prison; up to 20 years for Plasencia, a minimum of 10 years for Sangha, up to 10 years for Chavez and 15 to 25 years for Iwamasa. Although Chavez has already obtained a plea deal and given up his medical license, the rest of the arraignments and sentencing for the other three have yet to occur, and will in the upcoming year.