LOS ANGELES
A drug dealer dubbed the “Ketamine Queen” was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison in connection with “Friends” star Matthew Perry’s 2023 death, including her role in supplying the dose of the powerful anesthetic that killed the actor.
Jasveen Sangha, who admitted to running a “stash house” for illegal narcotics out of her home in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in September to five felony drug counts stemming from Perry’s death at age 54.
Sangha, wearing beige prison garb for the hearing in Los Angeles federal court, expressed remorse for her role in Perry’s death in a statement she delivered before being sentenced.
“I take full responsibility for my actions. These were horrible choices that ultimately proved tragic,” Sangha, 42, told US district judge Sherilyn Garnett.
The judge imposed a 15-year term, as federal prosecutors had recommended. The dual U.S.-British citizen had faced a possible sentence of up to 65 years.
Sangha’s sentence was harsher than those given to two physicians already sentenced in the case. Two more convicted co-defendants – another drug dealer and Perry’s former personal assistant – have yet to be sentenced.
The defence had urged Garnett to limit Sangha’s sentence to time already served since her 2024 arrest, about one year and eight months.
Judge rebuffs leniency argument
Sangha’s lawyer argued she suffered from her own substance abuse problems but has remained sober since her arrest and has demonstrated a willingness to improve her life and the lives of others, including organizing and leading weekly Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
The judge said she took into account the fact that Sangha had continued selling illegal drugs for six months after Perry’s death, exhibiting a lack of remorse at the time.
Perry was found by his live-in personal assistant floating face down and lifeless in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Ketamine, a short-acting but potent anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychological disorders but has gained popularity as an illicit party drug.
Decades of substance abuse
Perry had acknowledged decades of substance abuse that overlapped with the height of his fame playing the sardonic but charming Chandler Bing on the 1990s hit NBC television comedy “Friends.”
His death came a year after publication of Perry’s memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” which chronicled bouts with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol that had come close to ending his life more than once.
In the months before his death, Perry had claimed to have regained sobriety. But according to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been undergoing medically supervised ketamine infusions for depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to it.
