41 Doctors and Pharmacists Caught Prescribing Study-Enhancing and Sleeping Drugs

[Financial News] Prosecutors have launched a large-scale crackdown on crimes involving the misuse of medical narcotics, indicting over 20 doctors, pharmacists, and other offenders over the past year.
The Violent Crime Investigation Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, headed by Tae Soon Lee, announced that in 2025, it investigated crimes involving medical narcotics for a year, booking a total of 41 individuals: three doctors, one pharmacist, 17 distributors, and 20 users. Of these, six were detained and indicted, 18 were indicted without detention, and 14 were given suspended indictments.
According to prosecutors, Doctor A was indicted for repeatedly administering Propofol under the pretense of cosmetic procedures to 62 patients on 989 occasions over three years, earning criminal proceeds worth about 800 million won.
Doctor B was found to have illegally prescribed more than 20,000 tablets of narcotics, including Methylphenidate (an ADHD medication known as a 'study drug') and Phendimetrazine (a diet pill), under other people's names.
Doctor C manipulated medical records after administering Propofol to addicts and was charged with quasi-rape for committing sexual crimes against a female victim who lost consciousness after the injection.
Recently, following a series of incidents involving the misuse of medical narcotics—such as the 'Rolls-Royce drug driving case in Apgujeong-dong' and the 'professional baseball player Zolpidem case'—prosecutors established a dedicated medical narcotics investigation team in February last year. In November, the team was expanded from one to two units, and a cooperative system was established with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to strengthen enforcement.
A prosecution official stated, "We will do our utmost to strictly punish crimes involving the illegal distribution of medical narcotics and to support the successful reintegration of those who have abused these substances back into society."

kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-gyu Reporter