Supporters of California Bill 36 call Matthew Perry's ketamine overdose a cautionary tale

SACRAMENTO – An unsealed federal indictment in Matthew Perry's Ketamine Overdose Case Supporters of California's Proposition 36 call the case a cautionary tale.

U.S. prosecutors are charging five people with selling and supplying the actor with the drugs that killed him. They include Jasveen Sangha, who was known to her buyers as the Ketamine Queen, according to court records, and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, referred to in court records as “Dr. P.”

Images in the court documents show a North Hollywood stash where drugs were allegedly stored, as well as a photo of ketamine lozenges from a Stockton pharmacy. Prosecutors say one of the defendants obtained the tablets by writing a fake prescription.

According to prosecutors, “Dr. P” sold drug dealers 20 vials of ketamine worth $55,000 in the two months before Perry’s death.

“He followed the tragic path we have seen in many other people whose substance abuse disorder begins in a doctor's office and ends on the street,” said DEA Director Anne Milgram.

“You know, I was disgusted when I read the indictment,” said Thien Ho, district attorney for Sacramento County.

Ho said Perry's case is a cautionary tale for drug addiction throughout California.

Last year alone, there were 400 deaths from fentanyl in Sacramento County.

Ho is a champion of House Bill 36, which could lead to increased treatment for drug addicts and harsher punishment for drug dealers, possibly including longer sentences in state prisons (not county jails).

“But we need tools to hold accountable those who traffic poisons and transport, sell and distribute large quantities of drugs, as in the case of Matthew Perry and in so many other cases involving fentanyl,” Ho said.

Governor Gavin Newsom opposes Bill 36 because it would increase the number of incarcerated people and cost taxpayers millions.