A California doctor has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for supplying ketamine to late “Friends” star Matthew Perry in the months before the actor’s fatal overdose.
Salvador Plasencia, 44, was the first of five people to face justice in connection with Perry’s 2023 death at his Los Angeles home. Prosecutors said Plasencia sold ketamine at grossly inflated prices to the actor, who had long struggled with addiction, though he did not supply the fatal dose.
In a victim impact statement, Perry’s mother, Suzanne Perry, and stepfather, Keith Morrison, criticized Plasencia for neglecting his duty as a physician. “Matthew’s recovery counted on you saying NO,” they wrote, questioning the doctor’s motives in exploiting the actor’s vulnerability.
Plasencia’s lawyers, Karen Goldstein and Debra White, described their client as deeply regretful, noting that his mistakes in administering off-label ketamine over a 13-day period will “stay with him forever.” Plasencia has surrendered his medical license.
Another doctor, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry. Prosecutors presented messages from Plasencia, including one in which he wrote, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.” Plasencia allegedly purchased ketamine from Chavez and sold it to Perry at inflated prices.
Four others who supplied drugs to Perry, including alleged “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, will be sentenced in the coming months. Sangha faces up to 65 years in prison. Perry’s personal assistant and another man previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine.
Perry, 54, had a long and public battle with substance abuse, including painkillers and alcohol. Before his death, he had been using ketamine in supervised therapy for depression but reportedly became addicted to the substance, which also has hallucinogenic properties.
The actor rose to fame playing the sarcastic Chandler Bing in the hit sitcom “Friends” (1994–2004), a role that brought him wealth and global recognition but could not shield him from addiction struggles. In his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry detailed decades of detox attempts, writing that he had mostly been sober since 2001, apart from “sixty or seventy little mishaps.”
