Drugs

US Southern Command says that Sunday’s strike targeted a vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.

The United States military said it struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Pacific Ocean, killing two people.

In a Monday post on X, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said Sunday’s strike targeted a vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.

“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” SOUTHCOM added.

“This operation is a clear and decisive reminder that SOUTHCOM is taking the fight directly to the cartels.”

Grainy, black-and-white video accompanying the post appeared to show a boat moving through the water immediately before a large explosion.

The post stated that under the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander General Francis L. Donovan, the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal kinetic strike on the low-profile vessel.

“We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists — disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership and eliminating cartel terror across the region,” Donovan was quoted as saying.

“Let me be clear, we will not permit narco-terrorists to operate with impunity in the Western Hemisphere, nor will we allow their deadly poison to reach American communities. This operation is a powerful demonstration of our lethal precision, overwhelming capability, and absolute resolve to protect the U.S. homeland.”

The US military launched Operation Southern Spear in early September, with President Donald Trump arguing that Washington is effectively at war with Latin American drug cartels.

Since then, more than 200 people have been killed in strikes across the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, according to a tally by the AFP news agency.

However, the Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence that the targeted vessels were involved in drug trafficking.

Legal experts and rights groups warn that the attacks could amount to extrajudicial killings.

The Pentagon’s inspector general said in May that it would review whether the military followed standard targeting procedures, though the evaluation will not examine the legal authority behind the strikes.

SHARON Osbourne has accused a huge rock star of ‘giving Kelly drugs’ when she was a teen – and branded her a ‘a dry old c***’.

The former X Factor, 73, opened up about what happened during a recent live Q&A screening event for If These Walls Could Rock at the Landmark Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles over the weekend.

While appearing on stage as a special guest on Saturday 15 August ahead of a screener, the TV star alleged that Courtney Love, 62, gave her daughter drugs.

Courtney has previously denied giving drugs to any teenagers, after Sharon accused her in the past.

Back in 2007, Sharon alleged that Courtney was the first person to give Jack OxyContin.

One of the guests in the audience captured what Sharon said on camera as the host asked her: “Oh you know who gave it to her? You don’t have to say, but you know.”

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Sharon replied: “Yeah, Courtney Love.”

The presenter replied: “Well now you have said it, I want to hear this story! You tell me what happened.”

Sharon replied: “I will say no more, but, she’s a c*** anyway.

“A boring old c***. A dry, old c***.”

The Instagram user captioned the post: “Sharon Osbourne was telling a story about someone allegedly giving Kelly drugs when she was a young teenager… and then she dropped the name.

“I guess this is the greatest ad ever to go see If These Walls Could Rock.”

The Sun have contacted Courtney’s representative for comment.

Sharon has previously blamed Courtney for her son Jack’s addiction to prescription drug OxyContin.

She said back in 2007: “I will never have time for Courtney Love. She was the first person to give my son Jack the prescription drug OxyContin.

“There’s not a shadow of doubt in my mind about that. My dislike towards her is very personal.”

Courtney denied the accusation and said: “I never did that. I would never give drugs to a teenager.

“F**k you Sharon – as if I would ever give drugs to a teenager.”

Authorities say they broke up one of the largest criminal networks running migrant smuggling in the Western Mediterranean.

Spanish authorities, working with Europol and police in France, Portugal and Poland, have dismantled what they say is one of the largest criminal networks for migrant smuggling, illegal drugs and weapons trafficking across the Western Mediterranean.

Launched by Spain’s Civil Guard and National Police in 2023, the operation culminated in an “action day” on June 16, Europol said on Friday, leading to 78 arrests and the seizure of assets, including 18 high-speed boats.

Officials described the crossings as extremely dangerous, with migrants crammed into overcrowded boats travelling at high speed through rough seas, often without lighting or life jackets.

Authorities said passengers were sometimes tied down to keep them from falling overboard, and that the organisation used extraordinary violence against migrants, its own members and police.

The operation “successfully dismantled one of the ⁠most complex, active and dangerous transnational criminal networks detected to date in the Mediterranean,” Spain’s Civil Guard said in a statement.

Of those detained, 77 were arrested in Spain and one in Algeria, including three high-value targets. Most were Algerian nationals with ties to criminal groups in France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Poland.

As part of the operation, 17 locations were searched in Spain, including in Alicante, Almeria, Cartagena and Murcia.

The announcement on Friday comes a week after a mass migrant surge into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta drew international attention to migration pressures in the region.

The criminal network, described as operating like a logistics company for organised crime groups, managed two-way maritime smuggling routes between Europe and Algeria, according to Europol.

The network allegedly moved synthetic drugs southward and migrants northward to Spain’s southeastern coast and the island of Ibiza.

Investigators say the network carried out at least 64 migrant-smuggling operations, bringing more than 2,000 people into Spain and generating over €24 million ($27m) in profits, charging as much as €12,000 ($13,800) per migrant and packing up to 50 people onto a single boat.

Authorities also found that the network provided a wide range of services to other criminal organisations, including vessel storage, transportation, refuelling, maritime transfers, boat maintenance and counter-surveillance.

The network reportedly moved money through informal hawala networks, making it difficult for investigators to trace illicit funds.

Mexico deployed more than 1,500 troops to its main avocado-producing state after the US suspended export inspections over security concerns. The halt has frozen shipments to Mexico’s biggest market, threatening thousands of jobs and a multibillion-dollar industry.

Footage shows some of the more than 200 Bolivian police and military officers patrolling its border with Brazil. A wave of violence linked to clashes between Brazilian criminal groups fighting to control drug routes has left at least nine dead.

Ghana is facing an opioid addiction crisis, with a flood of cheap, synthetic drugs destroying lives and communities. In the northern city of Tamale, a group of civilians, frustrated by what they see as the inaction of local authorities, are taking the law into their own hands. The ‘anti-drug task force’ patrols the streets, seeking out dealers and users and meting out its own brand of justice. Some government officials condemn the vigilantes, while others embrace them as a useful tool in the fight against illegal drugs. As word spreads about the success of Tamale’s task force, some question whether civilians can properly replace state services – and warn about the dangers of vigilante justice.

Nearly four years after being extradited to the United States for a drug-trafficking trial, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez returned home after a pardon by US President Donald Trump at the end of last year.

Trump claimed the trial was a “set up” orchestrated by former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Hernandez still faces corruption charges in Honduras but returned on Sunday after an arrest warrant against him was cancelled.

Human rights activists and lawyers fear a trial on home soil, where his party holds the presidency, would be a sham.

So why did Trump pardon and release the former president of Honduras despite abducting and arresting Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro on drug and gun charges in January?

Why did Hernandez return to Honduras?

Hernandez was able to return after being pardoned by Trump, released from a US prison and then having an arrest warrant against him suspended last month.

He arrived at Palmerola International Airport, where he was greeted by his family and supporters of his National Party.

Hernandez led his country from 2014 to 2022, during which, according to US prosecutors, he once boasted he would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos”, referring to Americans.

Shortly after leaving office, he was extradited to the US, where he was found guilty by a federal jury and sentenced to 45 years in prison for involvement in a scheme to export cocaine to the US.

Prosecutors described the scheme as “one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world”. He was convicted of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from violent drug-trafficking organisations over 18 years, which he was alleged to have used to fuel his rise in politics.

“During his political career, Hernandez abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the US,” the US Department of Justice said after he was sentenced last year.

During his trial, Hernandez denied taking bribes from drug dealers, arguing he in fact cracked down on the narcotics trade and citing his administration’s cooperation with the US military.

“I cannot deny the profound emotion and joy I feel in my heart to be returning home,” Hernandez wrote on social media earlier this month, saying he was counting down the days to see his family.

“It wasn’t easy. The process has been extremely difficult … and what I experienced in prison, I truly wouldn’t wish on anyone,” he added.

Hernandez is expected to appear in court on August 3 to face the Honduran corruption charges.

Why did Trump pardon him?

Under the US Constitution, a president may offer two types of clemency for federal crimes: pardons, which forgive defendants their federal charges and restore their civil liberties, and commutations, which reduce people’s punishment without addressing their convictions.

Hernandez was pardoned by Trump in December. The US president said Hernandez had not received a fair trial and had been “set up” by the Biden administration.

Trump added that Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly”.

At the same time, Trump also threw his weight behind right-wing candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a member of Hernandez’s party. He ran in November’s presidential election and was declared the winner a month later in the close race after delays and allegations of fraud. He took office in January.

A Pandora Papers corruption investigation also accused Hernandez of diverting nearly $11m in state funds to political campaigns from 2010 to 2013.

Why a pardon for some but jail for others?

The Trump administration has faced criticism at home for pardoning the Honduran leader while at the same time abducting former President Maduro of Venezuela and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January on similar charges.

Maduro and Flores were seized in Caracas by the US military and flown to New York, where he is facing a range of guns and drugs charges and accusations of being a “narcoterrorist”.

At the time of Maduro’s abduction and since then, the Trump administration has targeted small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it claims, without providing evidence, are involved in drug trafficking. More than 220 people have been killed in more than 60 such strikes on small boats in what many lawyers and activists have deemed extrajudicial killings.

Since taking office for a second term in January 2025, Trump has ordered more than 1,800 acts of clemency benefitting a range of personalities, including cryptocurrency billionaires, disgraced politicians and hundreds of political allies.

Some of the most controversial beneficiaries are supporters of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, including hundreds of rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a bid to prevent the certification of Biden’s electoral victory over Trump two months earlier.

Legal experts have argued that while the president’s clemency power is broad, using it for allegedly corrupt purposes, such as to protect political allies or obstruct justice, could form the basis for impeachment proceedings.

US constitutional expert Bruce Fein told Al Jazeera that the US Constitution’s framers “understood the abuse of the pardon power to shelter political or personal friends to constitute an impeachable high crime and misdemeanour justifying the removal of the president through the impeachment process”.

“If Democrats gain control of Congress in the midterm elections, Trump will be in impeachment jeopardy for pardoning Hernandez,” Fein said, referring to elections in November.

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has been sentenced to life in prison in the US, following a plea deal last year when he admitted to trafficking millions ⁠of kilograms of cocaine. El Mayo led one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel, for about four decades.

Sheinbaum has denounced remarks from DEA head Terry Cole as a baseless ‘political statement’ about Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected a claim from the head of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that there is a deadly connection between her government and the country’s influential criminal cartels.

During her daily news conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum pushed back, saying the DEA’s remarks seemed “more ‌like a political statement than one backed by evidence”.

She added that the DEA should focus on combating drug trafficking, distribution and money laundering within its own country. The US, she pointed out, is the world’s largest market for illicit drugs.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly faced accusations under US President Donald Trump that her country is “run” by cartels.

Several Trump officials have mirrored that assertion. On Tuesday, for instance, DEA Administrator Terry Cole said ⁠the Mexican government and cartel networks were “one and the same”.

The Mexican government responded by saying Cole’s remarks did not reflect its efforts to work with the US to combat cartels.

It added that Mexico continues to be willing to collaborate with the US to combat crime, as long as its sovereignty was respected.

Since Trump took office for a second term, Sheinbaum has faced pressure from her northern neighbour to crack down on crime in her country.

In response, she has pledged close cooperation with the US, while pushing back against Trump’s militaristic approach to Latin America.

Her administration has repeatedly rejected the prospect of the US conducting military operations on its soil without the federal government’s consent.

Initially, Trump and Sheinbaum appeared to forge warm relations, with the US president praising his Mexican counterpart as “marvellous”.

But Sheinbaum has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of the Trump administration in recent months.

In April, for instance, she rebuked the US for issuing an indictment against ⁠Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha, amid allegations his campaign worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to violently influence the 2021 gubernatorial election.

Sheinbaum said no evidence had been produced to back the US’s claim against Rocha. She also argued that rooting out corruption was a domestic issue, not an international one.

Earlier this week, Mexico filed criminal complaints with US prosecutors over the deaths of ‌Mexican ‌nationals swept up in Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Sheinbaum’s remarks on Wednesday came as the US Department of the Treasury announced that two more criminal organisations in Mexico — the Juarez Cartel and Los Viagras — had been designated “foreign terrorist ⁠organizations and specially ⁠designated global ⁠terrorists”.

The Trump administration has made such designations in the past, as it has sought to frame its actions in Latin America as a war on so-called “narco-terrorists”.

Research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has found that a United Kingdom-United States pharmaceutical deal could cause 229,000 excess deaths as a result of the diversion of billions of pounds away from Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).

In December, the UK and US signed a pharmaceutical trade deal, under which the US government agreed not to impose tariffs on UK pharmaceutical and medical technology exports for the next three years.

In return, the British government committed to increasing NHS spending on new US medicines from 0.3 percent in 2026 to at least 0.6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 2036. This means that medicine spending overall should increase from 10 percent to 12 percent of the NHS budget.

UK politicians defended the deal with Science Minister Patrick Vallance saying in April that the arrangement gives patients across the NHS access to “life-changing new medicines that they previously would have been denied”.

“Not only this, but as the first country in the world to benefit from a zero percent tariff on pharmaceuticals to the US, Britain’s life sciences sector will be further boosted,” Vallance argued.

But the research published in the BMJ found that the commitment to spend so much more on new branded medicines over the next decade without any increase in NHS funding will “create substantial opportunity costs elsewhere, having a direct effect on population health”.

Samuel Cross, a professor in the department of pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Liverpool, who coauthored the report, said the agreement “benefits pharmaceutical companies and comes at a cost of NHS patients”.

“There’s really no way to sugar-coat that. The numbers speak for themselves,” Cross told Al Jazeera.

Here’s what we know about the report:

What is in the US-UK deal?

The agreement signed on December 1 was hailed as a landmark deal between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump on pharmaceutical trade and pricing.

The US agreed not to impose tariffs on UK pharmaceutical and medical exports for the following three years – until January 19, 2029.

According to a policy paper published by the British government, the preliminary understanding of the agreement recognised that the US and UK shared a “mutual interest in developing a global medicines system that supports development and commercialisation of new innovations”.

 What did the research find?

In February, Vallance disclosed that funding for the increased spending on medicines would come from the Department of Health and Social Care, which funds the NHS in England, rather than the Treasury.

The study in the BMJ forecast that if spending targets are met and the economy grows as forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the NHS would need to spend an extra 1.3 billion pounds ($1.73bn) a year by 2028 – about 25 million pounds ($33.4m) a week. By 2036, this would rise to an extra 8.8 billion pounds ($11.74bn) a year – about 170 million pounds ($227m) a week). Over the course of the agreement, that would add up to about 44.7 billion pounds ($59.7bn) by the end of 2036.

“Costs are even higher if the impact on publicly funded adult social care is also considered – modelling of English local authority data indicates that every £1bn [$1.33bn] the NHS must find to fund this deal will increase the costs of adult social care by £118m [$157.5m] because of increases in morbidity and mortality,” the report found.

Ultimately, the study predicted, excess deaths are likely as a result.

“Even if we restrict attention to the direct effect of reductions in available NHS expenditure, by 2036 this deal is likely to result in roughly 229,000 excess deaths – more than during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and June 2022 (137,000). If the indirect effect on adult social care is also included, the increase in excess deaths is even greater (291,000),” the report stated.

The report added that the findings are “unsurprising” given the existing pressures on the NHS and the “large burden of unmet need in highly cost-effective areas of care”.

It also referred to shortfalls in NHS funding and pharmaceutical pricing as “opportunity costs”.

Cross said that in health economics, opportunity costs are the “key to all of this”.

“In the NHS, we have a finite budget – we’re not made of money – and if you take money away to pay for, in this case, more medicines. then that comes at an opportunity cost of the places that the money has been diverted away from,” he explained.

Which health sectors will be worst affected?

The research predicted that the greatest number of deaths would occur in cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and cancer patients.

It added that there will also be broader harm caused to quality of life for patients in those sectors as well as “neurological, endocrine, musculoskeletal, and mental health problems”.

“Despite this evidence and reassurances that ‘frontline services’ will be protected, the NHS will need to fund this deal from allocations made six months before the deal was agreed. The evidence suggests that if additional public expenditure was available, it could be more effectively deployed within the NHS itself,” it added.

The report also called the government’s claims that the US-UK agreement would encourage pharmaceutical innovation in the country “uncertain”.

“Pharmaceutical research and development operate within a global market, of which the UK represents a relatively small share. As such, there is limited evidence that UK domestic pricing materially influences global investment decisions,” the report stated.

“Even so, evidence suggests in most cases the UK is already paying more than 100 percent of the long-term value of new medicines; incentivising production of new medicines under this deal will do long-term harm to the public health objective of the NHS,” it added.

Cross added that because money has in effect been diverted away from the NHS, there is no way for the government to offset the impact on the service.

“If the funds are used to pay for new medicines, we will lose positive health outcomes elsewhere, and that is as simple as that,” he said.

He called for the government to release an impact assessment to trigger a public discussion about how good the US-UK deal really is for Britain.

SUPERMODEL Cara Delevingne has revealed she snorted rhino ketamine at the peak of her drug addiction.

The 33-year-old also confirmed for the first time that she dated Aquaman actress Amber Heard.

Cara told a podcast she regularly took a scary amount of drugs and never came down in her 20s because she was always high.

She explained: “I remember being sold, like, rhino ketamine but it wasn’t really rhino ketamine.

“When I first started doing it, if anyone who takes ketamine or has taken drugs knows, you do a tiny bit of ketamine, and that’s enough.

“But I’d be doing really long, big lines because I just wanted to disappear, not have a bit and feel weird. I wanted to completely lose consciousness, tranquilise myself, I suppose.

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“My tolerance was so high with that stuff to the point where I’d go to a party and I’d give some to a 6ft 5in man, and he’d be floored by doing a tiny amount compared to what I was doing, which is scary.”

Class B drug ketamine is a dissociative general anaesthetic and known as a horse tranquilliser.

Rhino ket is the term for a powerful synthetic version or a mix of ketamine and amphetamine.

Cara got sober only in 2022 after photos emerged of her looking dishevelled after the Burning Man festival.

On The Louis Theroux Podcast, out today, she said of the illegal substances: “They were my best friend, my support. They were the thing that I could control my emotions with, you know? They kept me going.

“For a long period I only did drugs. I didn’t drink at all. I don’t know why. I just didn’t like it. I think in my 20s, I never came down, I was just working and partying, and it was fine.”

Cara said she and Amber, 40, formed a friendship on the film London Fields and became romantic only after Amber’s toxic split from Johnny Depp in 2016.

Cara said: “We were close for a long time, then when they were going through the divorce. Yeah, we were entangled, I suppose. But she was also entangled with others.”

When Louis suggested that could be a reference to her dating Elon Musk, she replied: “There you go.”

Heard and Musk dated on and off from 2016 to 2018.

Casablanca court delivers landmark verdict in ‘Escobar of the Sahara’ case: up to 12 years for top figures.

A Moroccan court has handed prison sentences of up to 12 years to 29 individuals – including prominent politicians and sports figures – concluding a major international drug trafficking and corruption trial.

The verdicts, delivered late on Thursday in Casablanca following a two-year trial, mark one of the largest anti-corruption operations in Morocco’s history.

Among those convicted were Abdennebi Bioui, a construction tycoon and former regional council president, Said Naciri, former president of Casablanca’s Wydad AC football and sports club and former MP Belkacem Mir – all senior members of the governing PAM party. Naciri received 10 years, Bioui 12 and Mir 10.

Besides the three main defendants, sentences for the remaining ranged from two to nine years, depending on their individual role in the network.

The wide-ranging case was triggered by courtroom testimony from El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, a notorious Malian drug trafficker nicknamed the “Pablo Escobar of the Sahara”.

Currently serving a 10-year sentence in Morocco, Ben Brahim told judicial investigators that his former Moroccan political and business associates had betrayed him, seizing millions of dollars worth of his luxury real estate and vehicles following his arrest in 2019.

The trial involved more than 20 defendants, 18 witnesses and two civil parties which centred on a sophisticated network that transported tonnes of Moroccan cannabis resin across North Africa to Europe, alongside Latin American cocaine shipments.

Defendants were convicted on charges including drug and gold trafficking, corruption, forgery and money laundering.

The court also ordered the seizure of assets and levied hundreds of millions of dollars in customs and exchange fines against the principal ringleaders.

Moroccan media reported that families of the convicted, present without legal representation due to a lawyers’ strike, were left in shock, with some collapsing in the courthouse.

The scandal reached the highest levels of state, prompting King Mohammed VI to demand a legally binding code of ethics aimed at “moralising” parliamentary life.

June 24 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department announced charges Wednesday for 12 people it said used drones in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs, weapons and other items into multiple prisons.

The department said the conspiracy affected 10 federal prisons in eight states, including Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, WAPT-TV reported.

U.S. Attorney William Keyes said the operation was based at a former daycare in Macon, Ga., and used multiple drones to deliver contraband to prisons by night.

Keyes said the indictment “charges the most sophisticated and sprawling criminal enterprise using drones to introduce contraband into the federal prison system ever charged by the Department of Justice,” CNN reported.

The drone deliveries allegedly took place between September 2023 and May 2026. Charges say the group used six drones to deliver contraband at least 38 times. This contraband included methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine,other illegal drugs, tobacco, blades and cell phones.

The prosecutors said that people inside the prisons used phones to help guide the drone pilots. Prison authorities found some, but not all, of the drops, the indictment said.

“The allegations outlined in this indictment describe a coordinated criminal effort involving heavy payload drones to introduce dangerous contraband into federal prisons across multiple states,” William Marshall III, director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, said Wednesday, CNN reported. “Activity of this nature threatens the safety of everyone who lives and works inside our facilities and will not be tolerated.”

The bureau used drone detection systems to uncover the conspiracy, representatives said. A grand jury in Georgia handed down the indictment on charges including drug and firearms distribution on June 10.

Earlier in 2026, a group of state attorneys general launched a combined effort to combat the use of drones to deliver prison contraband.

Mexican journalist Roxana Guzman’s disappearance for more than two weeks has renewed concerns over escalating violence against journalists in Mexico, where attacks on the press continue with near-total impunity.

MATTHEW Perry’s live-in assistant has been jailed for three years and five months after injecting the actor with ketamine and leaving him alone to die.

Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, learned his fate as he appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

He was the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced for playing a role in the actor’s 2023 overdose death.

Iwamasa, who was previously out on bail, avoided photographs by turning up to court at 7am when the doors opened, two hours ahead of the hearing, a source told The U.S. Sun.

He was then granted a delayed surrender date of July 17.

Los Angeles Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also ordered him to pay fines of $10,000 and $100 and be on supervised released for two years.

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Iwamasa wore a grey suit and matching tie with a white shirt for the hearing.

“Kenny wishes he would have had the strength to push back and say no and for that he will forever be remorseful,” his lawyer, Alan Eisner, said as he stood beside him outside of the court.

“Kenny is not the only person here who partook in this tragic event.”

He said Perry had agency, and his family should have also been there for him during his relapse.

“Mr Perry’s family could have said no along the way,” he bizarrely stated.

His loved ones previously insisted they had no idea he had fallen back into addiction.

The attorney said the blame shouldn’t all fall on his client, a man who is at the “low end of the totem pole” and wasn’t benefiting financially like those who sold him the drugs.

Asked why he left him alone to die after injecting him with the drug, the lawyer called the comments “vindictive” and said it was an unfair narrative.

Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, who arrived with the actor’s mother, Suzanne, gave an emotional impact statement, along with estate manager, according to the New York Post.

Iwamasa was reportedly on the verge of tears as Morrison addressed him in court but he did not speak to reporters outside.

Although he pleaded guilty, his counsel argued that he was trapped in a toxic employer-employee dynamic and felt unable to refuse Perry’s requests.

The actor’s publicist, Lisa Calio, who was close to him for 30 years and is now the CEO of The Matthew Perry Foundation, wrote a heartbreaking letter to the judge and slammed Iwamasa.

She claimed he hatched a delusional plan to get rid of those tasked with keeping Perry safe so he could run the show and live a lavish lifestyle, before sourcing drugs for him.

She wrote, “His narcissistic, outrageous, irresponsible behavior, his psychotic plan, caused him to heat up the jacuzzi, give Matthew the giant shot he requested and leave him alone to die.”

Referencing the day Perry was found dead, she recalled, “I received a text from Kenny at 4 a.m. as he was driving one of Matthew’s cars from the house in the Hollywood Hills to the house in the Palisades. And he was loving it.”

She claimed, “Kenny convinced Matthew that there were too many people around and that he didn’t need to spend the money on them anymore. And that battle, Kenny won. I was not aware.”

Calio claimed that it was “the beginning of the end.”

She added, “Whatever sentence he receives, it won’t be long enough.

“He will always be known as the man who killed Matthew Perry, I suppose there should be some comfort in that.”

Before he was Perry’s live-in assistant, the star had other staff members and a sober companion who saved his life.

Iwamasa had been working for Perry’s manager, Doug Chapin, since the 1990s and took a more hands-on role as the actor’s live-in assistant around 2022, according to reports.

Court documents showed he was paid around $150,000 a year to assist Perry around the clock and was tasked with helping to manage his sobriety.

They lived together at a Beverly Hills rental after Perry sold his “mansion in the sky” in Century City and was waiting for renovation work to be completed on his new home in the Pacific Palisades.

As Perry relapsed, Iwamasa obtained ketamine from suppliers and was taught how to administer it, according to court documents.

Iwamasa admitted to injecting Perry with the drug three times on the day he died, including twice in 40 minutes.

He then left him alone near his hot tub at the star’s home in the Pacific Palisades, and when he returned, he found the actor unresponsive in the water.

Iwamasa was accused of repeatedly lying to investigators, including allegedly hiding the fact that he injected Perry with several ketamine shots on the day of his death, court documents also show.

He later admitted he “cleaned up the scene” during a phone call with middleman Erik Fleming, officials claimed.

The assistant reportedly said he got rid of syringes and bottles, changed passwords on Perry’s devices and “deleted everything.”

The five responsible for Matthew Perry’s death

Here are the five individuals allegedly behind Perry’s ketamine overdose.

• “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” Jasveen Sangha – Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty in September 2025 to federal charges for supplying the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s fatal overdose. Prosecutors say that after Perry’s death, she reportedly searched online, “can ketamine be listed as a cause of death.” She has now been jailed for 15 years.
• “Dr. P” Dr. Salvador Plasencia – Plasencia, 44, was one of the physicians who illegally supplied ketamine to Perry before his death. He pleaded guilty in mid‑2025 to several federal counts of ketamine distribution. In December 2025, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined; he was remanded immediately to begin serving his term.
• Dr. Mark Chavez – Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine in connection with Perry’s death. In December 2025, he was sentenced to eight months of home confinement, ordered to complete community service, and placed on supervised release.
• Kenneth Iwamasa – Iwamasa, 60, Perry’s live‑in assistant, admitted he obtained and administered ketamine to Perry as part of the scheme. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is set to be sentenced in May.
• Erik Fleming – Fleming, 56, an intermediary dealer who helped coordinate the flow of ketamine from suppliers to Perry’s assistant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

It was several months before it was revealed that Iwamasa played a part in Perry’s death, shocking not only his family and friends but thousands of fans worldwide.

He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and initially faced 15 years behind bars.

But prosecutors said in court documents that he provided significant cooperation in the government’s investigation, leading to a reduced sentencing recommendation of three years and four months.

Perry’s mum, Suzanne Morrison, also described Iwamasa in a victim impact statement ahead of sentencing as a “man without conscience” and said the family felt betrayed by him.

In the statement, Morrison said Iwamasa not only delivered the fatal dose but also painted himself as someone who was trying to help Perry, and even went as far as begging to speak at his funeral.

She said in court filings, “He clung to me and the family as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew.”

She added: “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Four others were convicted in recent months after being involved in Perry’s death.

Erik Fleming, a middleman and former drug counsellor, was sentenced to two years in prison, while Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen”, was handed 15 years.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who was involved in supplying and administering ketamine linked to Perry, received two and a half years.

He obtained the drug from a fellow doctor, Mark Chavez, who received eight months of home detention after pleading guilty.

Perry rose to fame as Chandler Bing on the hit 90s sitcom Friends.