“Nobody forces anyone to take drugs”

Friends of the so-called “ketamine queen,” accused of supplying the fatal shipment of drugs that killed actor Matthew Perry, have denied the allegations, saying “nobody is forcing anyone to take drugs.”

Jasveen Sangha was one of five people accused of “profiting” from the “Friends” star and his worsening drug addiction, which led to Perry's death from an overdose at his Pacific Palisades, California, home on October 28.

Now her friends have come to her aid and described her to the Daily Mail as “spiritual,” “sweet,” and “uplifting.”

A close friend of Sangha, interior designer Clancy Carter, said she had “no idea” that she was facing serious allegations when the two met at her birthday party last week.

“She always wears the nicest designer clothes,” said Carter, who has been friends with 41-year-old Sangha since 2008. “She has a family that takes care of her. She was never the type of person who needed money.”

“She owns property in the UK. She's constantly travelling and doing fun things with her family,” the mother of three continued. “I never thought she would do something like this. But if they have evidence directly linked to her, I'm completely shocked.”

Still, Carter expressed his sympathy for Perry, adding, “Either way, an innocent person died, someone who needed proper attention and care. So it's certainly concerning.”

However, Sangha’s friend Heather Pardieu, 42, was not so sympathetic.

“She's a friend of mine,” Pardieu told the outlet. “I mean, at the end of the day, nobody is forcing anyone to do drugs.”

She added that she had never seen Sangha come into contact with drugs.

On Thursday, prosecutors announced 18 charges against Sangha and two doctors, Salvador Plascencia and Mark Chavez, for tricking Perry into paying thousands of dollars for vials of ketamine that actually cost just $12.

Sangha allegedly supplied Perry's acquaintance Erik Fleming with 50 vials of the drug in two separate deals in October, which he eventually handed over to the actor.

Due to the size of the order, Sangha also included free “ketamine lollipops” with Perry’s order, the indictment states.

According to TMZ, Fleming, Perry's assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, who injected him with the tranquilizer on the day of his death, and Chavez accepted a deal.

Plascencia, who was also accused, had a license to prescribe and administer the powerful sedative.

According to an indictment, Plascencia texted Iwamasa before his death, saying, “I wonder how much this idiot will pay for ketamine.”

Sixteen days before Perry was found in the hot tub, Plascencia allegedly administered a “large dose” of ketamine, which forced Perry to “freeze” and increased his blood pressure.

His court date is scheduled for October 15.

Sangha pleaded not guilty in federal court in Los Angeles, was held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on October 8.

Carter said she attended the Golden Globes and Oscars with Sangha, which apparently opened the door for her to interact with Hollywood's elite.

“She knows a lot of people in the industry,” Carter said. “She and I have been to the Golden Globes and the Oscars. She has met a lot of celebrities.”

“I care about her very much. I would hate for something terrible to happen to her, no matter what.”

Perry, 54, who wrote openly about his drug addiction in his memoir “Friends, Lover and the Big Terrible Thing,” was seeking treatment for his mental health issues when his life took a dark turn, Drug Enforcement Administration director Anne Milgram said Thursday.

He was undergoing ketamine therapy for depression and, according to the autopsy report, was last treated more than a week before his death.

At the time of his death, the actor had about 3.54 micrograms of ketamine per milliliter in his blood – almost three times the normally prescribed amount.