Jasveen Sangha, a 42-year-old North Hollywood drug dealer nicknamed the "Ketamine Queen," was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison on April 8 for her role in Matthew Perry's overdose death. Sangha sold ketamine to a middleman, who passed it to Perry's assistant, who injected Perry with at least three shots on October 28, 2023. Five people were charged. The two doctors involved got 8 months of home detention and 2.5 years. Sangha got more time than all four co-defendants combined.
1. She Knew What She Was Doing (Prosecutors, Perry Family)
Sangha ran a drug operation for five years, kept dealing after a customer died, and chose profits over people. Fifteen years is the floor, not the ceiling.
Sangha didn't make one bad sale — she ran a sustained drug business out of her apartment from 2019 through Perry's death in October 2023. Judge Sherilyn Garnett cited the size of her operation, the years she spent dealing, and her long list of clients as factors that made her more culpable. Prosecutors requested exactly 15 years — well below the 65-year statutory maximum.
The most damning fact is Cody McLaury. In 2019, Sangha sold ketamine to McLaury, a 33-year-old in Los Angeles, who died from an overdose. McLaury's sister texted Sangha to tell her that her customer had died. Sangha kept dealing for four more years.
Perry's family wanted the maximum. His stepmother Debbie Perry delivered a victim impact statement asking the court to give Sangha the harshest sentence possible so she can't hurt other families. His stepfather Keith Morrison described a "daily, grinding sadness and sorrow."
2. Fifteen Years Is Too Long (Defense, Drug Policy Critics)
The doctors who prescribed the ketamine got a fraction of the time. The assistant who injected it hasn't been sentenced yet. The dealer at the far end of the chain got the heaviest punishment.
The sentencing disparity is hard to explain away. Dr. Mark Chavez received 8 months of home detention — no prison time. Dr. Salvador Plasencia got 2.5 years. Sangha got 15. Her defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Alexandra Kazarian argued for time served, noting she had no prior criminal record, exemplary prison behavior, and strong family support.
The chain of causation has multiple links, and Sangha is the furthest from the needle. She sold vials to Erik Fleming. Fleming gave them to Kenneth Iwamasa. Iwamasa — Perry's personal assistant — injected Perry at least three times on the day he died. Sangha never personally met Perry. Iwamasa, who physically administered the drug, hasn't been sentenced yet and faces the same 15-year maximum.
Max Daly argues Sangha is being scapegoated for systemic failures. Writing on Substack, Daly frames the case as targeting a low-level dealer rather than addressing the healthcare and addiction systems that failed Perry. He notes that ketamine carries far lower overdose risk than fentanyl — it's a Schedule III substance, not the synthetic opioid that's killing tens of thousands a year.
3. Would This Have Happened Without a Famous Victim? (Legal Analysts)
Perry's celebrity turned a drug case into a precedent-setting prosecution. The question is whether that precedent will apply when the victim isn't a beloved TV star.
The case is being framed as a new era of accountability for drug dealers in overdose deaths. Prosecutors want to establish that suppliers in the chain can be held responsible even when intermediaries and physicians are also involved. Legal analysts say high-profile cases like Perry's bring visibility to the broader drug crisis and serve as warnings to dealers operating at every level.
But precedents set in celebrity cases don't always translate. The 15-year sentence for a Schedule III substance — which carries a standard maximum of 10 years for distribution — aligns more closely with fentanyl sentencing ranges despite ketamine's lower lethality. The question is whether the federal government will pursue this level of prosecution for every dealer in the supply chain of every overdose death, or whether this kind of accountability is reserved for cases that make headlines.
Where This Lands
Sangha ran a drug operation for five years, kept dealing after a customer died, and supplied the ketamine that killed Matthew Perry. Those facts are not in dispute. What's in dispute is whether 15 years is proportional when the doctors who enabled the same chain got months, when the assistant who held the syringe hasn't been sentenced, and when the drug itself is one of the least lethal controlled substances on the schedule. Where this lands depends on whether you think the sentence fits the crime or fits the celebrity — and whether this level of accountability will ever extend to overdose deaths that don't make the front page.