The China Mail - Doctor sentenced for supplying ketamine to 'Friends' star Perry

Mark Chavez, 55, had admitted one count of conspiracy to supply the drug, which the actor was buying for up to $2,000 a vial in the weeks before his 2023 death in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.

Chavez, who ran a ketamine infusion clinic near San Diego, was ordered to be confined at home for eight months. He must also perform 300 hours of community service.

The disgraced medic wrote a fraudulent prescription to obtain ketamine -- an anesthetic that is also used in depression therapy, but can be misused as a party drug -- that he then supplied to fellow doctor Salvador Plasencia.

Plasencia, who mused in text messages to Chavez "I wonder how much this moron will pay," was jailed this month for two-and-a-half years.

Both men have surrendered their medical licenses.

Three other people who have also admitted their part in supplying drugs to the actor will be sentenced over the coming months.

They include Jasveen Sangha, the alleged "Ketamine Queen" who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, who could be jailed for up to 65 years.

Perry's live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

- Addiction struggles -

The actor's lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of "Friends" fans.

A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine in his system.

Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.

But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.

First airing between 1994 and 2004, the comedy "Friends" followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers.

It drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.

Perry's role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.

In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.

In his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," Perry described going through detox dozens of times.

"I have mostly been sober since 2001," he wrote, "save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps."

B.Carter--ThChM