Supporters of California's Prop 36 call Matthew Perry's ketamine overdose case a cautionary tale
SACRAMENTO – An unsealed federal indictment in the Matthew Perry ketamine overdose case has supporters of California's Prop 36 calling the case a cautionary tale.
The U.S. Attorney's office is charging five people with selling and providing the actor with the drugs that killed him. They included Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors say was known to her buyers as the Ketamine Queen, in the court documents and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, referred to as "Dr. P," in the court documents.
Pictures in the court documents show a North Hollywood stash house where drugs were allegedly housed, along with a photo of ketamine lozenges from a Stockton pharmacy the prosecutors say were obtained by one of the defendants by writing a fraudulent prescription.
Prosecutors say in the two months before Perry's death "Dr. P" sold handlers 20 vials of ketamine for $55,000.
"He followed the arch we have tragically seen with many others whose substance use disorder begins in a doctor's office and ends in the street," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said.
"You know I was sickened when I read the indictment," Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said.
Ho said Perry's case is a cautionary tale for drug addiction across California.
Sacramento County had 400 fentanyl deaths last year alone.
Ho is campaigning for Prop 36, which could increase treatment for drug addicts and punishments for drug sellers, including possible longer sentences in state prisons, not county jails.
"But for those individuals that are pedaling poison, those individuals that are transporting and selling and distributing a large amount of drugs, like in the Matthew Perry case, so many other cases including fentanyl, we need the tools to be able to hold them accountable," Ho said.
Governor Gavin Newsom is opposed to Prop 36, arguing it will increase incarceration and cost taxpayers millions.