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Veterinary anesthetic medetomidine. / Yonhap News

Police have arrested doctors and other individuals who illegally administered medical narcotics, including propofol, and secretly filmed anesthetized patients.

The Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on July 26 that it arrested 14 people, including two doctors, an administrative manager, and 11 drug users, on charges including violations of the Narcotics Control Act and referred them to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Among them, doctor A, in his 40s, and user B were transferred to prosecution under arrest.

Dr. A is accused of earning 40 million won by administering propofol and other substances to seven individuals on 71 occasions at his clinic in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, from November 2021 to November 2023. He also faces charges of illegally photographing the bodies of sleeping patients after administering propofol on 27 occasions.

Dr. C, in his 50s, a business partner of Dr. A, was found to have pocketed 417 million won by administering propofol and ketamine 111 times to eight people from July 2022 to June 2023.

The cost per administration set by the doctors was 350,000 won, 31 times the cost price of the drug. Some users paid up to 13.5 million won in a single day or spent 253 million won visiting the clinic 64 times over an 11-month period.

Police confirmed that the doctors administered dexmedetomidine, a general sleep anesthetic, alongside narcotics to evade law enforcement detection and prolong sedation. This marks the first time dexmedetomidine was caught being misused as a substitute for narcotics. According to the police, the drug shares virtually identical components with medetomidine, a veterinary anesthetic recently detected as a new illicit drug, raising calls for its classification as a controlled substance.

Police requested the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to designate the drug as a narcotic. They also applied for a pre-prosecution confiscation order for criminal proceeds totaling 457 million won involving the two doctors.

A police official stated that it was a serious crime exploiting medical facilities beyond external monitoring, particularly single-occupancy rooms, emphasizing the need to limit solo treatments during sleep anesthesia and mandate a chaperone system where a third party, such as a nurse, must be present.

                                                                                                            Choi Min-jun