The doctor who supplied the drug ketamine to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry ahead of his overdose death in October 2023 has taken a plea deal.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine in federal court in Los Angeles. The deal was made in exchange for prosecutors dropping other charges against him, including three additional distribution charges and two counts of falsifying records, according to NPR.
The doctor faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of at least $2 million, per the signed agreement.
In the weeks after the “Friends” star died, it was revealed that Plasencia allegedly texted another doctor, Mark Chavez, saying “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Plasencia supplied Perry with 20 vials of ketamine, equal to 2,000 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes in the month before his death, the outlet noted.
Dr. Plasencia’s co-defendant, Jasveen Sangha, nicknamed “The Ketamine Queen,” is one of several others scheduled for trial in August in connection with Perry’s overdose death. Sangha is the only defendant who pleaded “not guilty” and refused a plea deal.
Ketamine is a medication primarily used as an anesthetic in both humans and animals. It is classified as a Schedule III controlled substance and is often used for the treatment of depression, which was Perry’s reason for using it. The 54-year-old actor had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, which he detailed in his 2022 memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
The “Friends” star was found face down in his hot tub on October 28, 2023, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office determined he had drowned but attributed his death to ketamine, which Perry had been taking as part of a therapy. The levels of ketamine found in his system were so high that they were close to the range that would be used for general anesthesia during surgery, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the report said.
In his memoir, Perry wrote about his experience using ketamine.
“I often thought that I was dying during that hour. Oh, I thought, this is what happens when you die. Yet I would continually sign up for this s*** because it was something different, and anything different is good,” Perry wrote.
The actor wrote that the ketamine treatments made him feel like he was “hit in the head with a giant happy shovel,” but that the feeling he got from the hangovers “outweighed the shovel.”
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
The doctor who supplied the drug ketamine to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry ahead of his overdose death in October 2023 has taken a plea deal.
Dr. Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine in federal court in Los Angeles. The deal was made in exchange for prosecutors dropping other charges against him, including three additional distribution charges and two counts of falsifying records, according to NPR.
The doctor faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of at least $2 million, per the signed agreement.
In the weeks after the “Friends” star died, it was revealed that Plasencia allegedly texted another doctor, Mark Chavez, saying “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Plasencia supplied Perry with 20 vials of ketamine, equal to 2,000 mg of the drug, along with ketamine lozenges and syringes in the month before his death, the outlet noted.
Dr. Plasencia’s co-defendant, Jasveen Sangha, nicknamed “The Ketamine Queen,” is one of several others scheduled for trial in August in connection with Perry’s overdose death. Sangha is the only defendant who pleaded “not guilty” and refused a plea deal.
Ketamine is a medication primarily used as an anesthetic in both humans and animals. It is classified as a Schedule III controlled substance and is often used for the treatment of depression, which was Perry’s reason for using it. The 54-year-old actor had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, which he detailed in his 2022 memoir titled “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.”
The “Friends” star was found face down in his hot tub on October 28, 2023, at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office determined he had drowned but attributed his death to ketamine, which Perry had been taking as part of a therapy. The levels of ketamine found in his system were so high that they were close to the range that would be used for general anesthesia during surgery, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the report said.
In his memoir, Perry wrote about his experience using ketamine.
“I often thought that I was dying during that hour. Oh, I thought, this is what happens when you die. Yet I would continually sign up for this s*** because it was something different, and anything different is good,” Perry wrote.
The actor wrote that the ketamine treatments made him feel like he was “hit in the head with a giant happy shovel,” but that the feeling he got from the hangovers “outweighed the shovel.”
“}]]
