May 28, 10:45 AM
Matthew Perry's Assistant Sentenced to Three Years and Five Months Over Ketamine Death
Kenneth Iwamasa admitted administering at least 27 ketamine injections to Friends star in days before his October 2023 death, including three doses on final day.
Nearly three years after the death of "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, his former personal assistant has been sentenced to prison. Kenneth Iwamasa received a term of three years and five months, according to a court decision in Los Angeles reported Wednesday by the New York Times and other US media outlets.
Iwamasa admitted to administering at least 27 ketamine injections to the actor in the days leading up to his death. That included three doses on the day Perry died. Iwamasa had pleaded guilty. In total, five people have been sentenced in connection with Perry's 2023 death, including doctors and drug dealers.
In May, a 56-year-old man was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the case. He pleaded guilty to obtaining more than 50 doses of ketamine for Perry in the weeks before his death. He acted as a middleman for a dealer known as the "Ketamine Queen," in whose home large quantities of various drugs were found, including methamphetamine and ecstasy.
One of the doctors involved received two and a half years in prison last December, while his colleague was sentenced to eight months of house arrest. The longest sentence so far – 15 years in prison – was handed down in April to the "Ketamine Queen." According to prosecutors, she supplied the dose that led to the actor's death.
Perry was found dead on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54, in the whirlpool tub of his Los Angeles home. The actor had spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction. According to reports, he had undergone ketamine therapy under medical supervision for depression and anxiety. Additionally, he was allegedly obtaining the drug on the black market.
Ketamine is a decades-old anesthetic. It can also be used to treat people with treatment-resistant depression under certain conditions. Some partygoers also use the substance as an illegal club drug.
For now, the last chapter of the Matthew Perry tragedy is being written in a Los Angeles courtroom. An assistant, two doctors, a middleman, and a drug dealer have all been sentenced. The "Ketamine Queen" got 15 years. Iwamasa got nearly three and a half. And Perry, who fought his addictions publicly and privately, remains gone. The courts have done their work. But the questions – about oversight, about access, about who enabled whom – will linger long after the sentences are served.
Written by Sandy van Dongen
