Doctors, Drug Dealers and Death: Who is responsible for actor Matthew Perry's death?

[Music] it is very odd to live in a world where if you died it would shock people but surprise no one requesting two additional units and a supervisor respond to Blue Sail Drive a mystery unravels after a beloved actor Matthew Perry found dead we're learning more about Perry's Final hours known around the world as Chandler being on friends I'm Chandler I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable but in one of his last interviews ever he told Diane story about the substance abuse disorder that would hold him in its grasp until the very end how will we know when you're in trouble and you're not okay if I say I'm just going to chill alone at home tonight struggling with drugs alcohol and ultimately in his final moments ketamine a powerful drug sometimes legally prescribed for mental health treatments Perry's death igniting a sweeping multi- agency investigation into two separate drug Rings Matthew Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local Clinic where he became addicted to intervenous ketamine when Clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage he turned to unscrupulous doctors who saw Perry as a way to make quick money you feel responsible for Matthew's now less than a month later disturbing details continued to come to light about what happened in Perry's final days another alleged victim and who will be brought to Justice we're here today with our law enforcing Partners to announce Federal criminal charges related to the death of the actor Matthew Perry his demise ultimately exposing an elaborate web of death doctors and dealers allegedly Distributing at least 70 vials of ketamine which cost Perry more than $60,000 in the final month of his life five people including two doctors and Matthew Perry's personal assistant all arrested those involved now facing multiple charges in connection with the actor's ketamine death and face 10 years to life in prison if convicted we charged five defendants in this matter these defendants took advantage of Mr Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves the defendants include 54-year-old Dr Mark Chavez from San Diego do you have any remorse about what's been going on 59-year-old Kenneth iwamasa Perry's live-in personal assistant and Eric Fleming a former movie producer turned drug middleman three of the five immediately decided they were pleading guilty they were working with investigators flipping on the other two the alleged ring leaders are 42-year-old Dr Salvador Placencia Dr P the indictment alleges Placencia himself sold iwamasa vile after vile prosecutors say that iwamasa was getting the ketamine initially from Dr Placencia but iwamasa has no medical training so he had to figure out and learn how to inject this ketamine into Matthew Perry and that it was allegedly Dr Placencia who said I will show you over two months from September to October 2023 they distributed approximately 20 vials of ketamine to Mr Perry in exchange for $55,000 in cash defendant Placentia saw this as an opportunity to profit off of Mr Perry also indied jazine SAA whose customers allegedly dubbed her the ketamine Queen the 41-year-old posting photos on social media depicting her high-end lifestyle and do you know why she was given the name ketamine Queen one can infer based on the fact that she sold 50 vials in 2 weeks to Mr Perry very large amount Su hun and Placencia both pleaded not guilty what the indictment seems to show is that he was really a charlatan administering ketamine to Matthew Perry who was clearly in the throws of addiction that's what the government's alleging whether or not that's what actually happened we'll have to see if it plays out jezen sanha's attorney Mark Gago spoke to Newsweek defending his client I think all of these so-called urban legends that somehow my client knew Matthew Perry are demonstrably false after the feds raided sanga's apartment they also say they learned of a second victim who died years earlier that other victim was a person named Cody [Music] mcclory how would you describe your brother you know growing up he was very sweet he had lots of close friendships and um you know he also liked to have a good time the autopsy report listed his cause of death as acute ketamine along with Heroin methamphetamine and cocaine toxicity when you heard that ketamine was one of the causes of death from the autopsy were you surprised well yes cuz you know it's it's tough to think that something that you've never heard really um being a cause of death or just not common was a factor for him addiction was not something that was a part of Cody's life months after he died the police mailed Kimberly her brother's belongings including his cell phone which Kimberly says revealed a disturbing Discovery Cody's text messages with Sangha you do find something that is very very suspicious what do you see yeah so I um see messages back and forth between the two of them talking about ketamine and how much she has available how much it costs Kimberly decided to text sanha herself stating the ketamine you sold my brother killed him it's listed as the cause of death is it possible that Cody mcl's death would never have been investigated had it not been for Matthew Perry's death it's certainly possible but I will say that we investigate the deaths of uh many people who are not celebrities I think there's a shift in ter terms of how we look at these deaths uh we don't blame the victim we want to vindicate the victim we want to hold drug dealers accountable for the death they cause when prescribed and administered legally many doctors and their patients say the results can be groundbreaking the research is favorable when you're looking at ketamine as a treatment for depression particularly individuals with resistant depression who don't respond to traditional Therapies doctors recommend that ketamine and traditional Psychotherapy be done in Tandem and patients should be under medical supervision would you prescribe ketamine to someone who has known addiction issues what we do know is that there is a body of evidence suggesting that ketamine treatment if done properly uh can be helpful for folks with substance abuse disorder it is very dangerous to use ketamine uh in someone who's actively using substance es it can become a drug of abuse psychologically a rock and roll this is kind of Sebastian is one of the many Believers in ketamine therapy he's come to bespoke treatment run by Dr Neema fahimian today he's getting help with his treatment resistant depression take a deep breath I've been using the same anti-depressant for 12 years and it kind of stopped working as some point it was really hard to do anything I would say my depression symptoms have probably reduced by 50% by now which is which is good our thanks to man watching that piece reminded me of my own therapist wisdom we're all having a hard time with something he says Andis been said the opposite of addiction is not sobriety it's Community each of us find and cherish our own community if you or someone you care about is struggling with thoughts of suicide substance use or Mental Health crisis text recall the crisis Lifeline at 988 free help is available 247 for much more a match report watch what happened to Matthew Perry on impact by Nightline now streaming on Hulu it