<Anchor>

Singer Wheesung had been on medication twice before he fell. The drug was a sleeping anesthetic called Etomidera. However, the drug, which can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription, is being sold on the Internet.

Reporter Sangmin Kim.

<Reporter>

Singer Wheesung climbs a car with the police.

On the 31st of last month, she was found to have fallen asleep after being dosed with the sleeping anesthetic Etomide, and was arrested by the police. Etomydate is a specialty drug that can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription, but Wheesung was found to have been purchased without a doctor's prescription.

However, since Etomydate was not classified as a drug, Wheesung, who bought the drug, was not punished, and only a sold man was arrested for violating the pharmacist law. The effect similar to that of propofol is called my 'second propofol' and can be easily obtained from the internet.

Since the use of propofol was designated as a drug in 2011 and its use has been restricted, imports have increased more than 8 times compared to 2010.

However, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is reserved to designate etomidate as a drug such as propofol.

[Food and Drug Officials: (To be designated as a drug) You have to be dependent or addictive. Expert advice or something like that hasn't happened yet… ]

However, if you consider the side effects of medication without a doctor's prescription, it is pointed out that strict management is necessary even if it is not designated as a drug.

[In-Seok Oh / Academic Director, Korean Pharmaceutical Society: (If overdose) Nausea, vomiting, and headaches are common. You have to put the (injection) directly into the vein vessel. When ordinary people do it, they often put it by mistake ... ]

In order to prevent such illegal transactions, there is a growing voice that the inspection cycle of drug wholesalers every three years should be reduced, and the current pharmacist law should be revised to punish only sellers and not buyers.

(Video editing: Jinhoon Park, VJ: Junyoung Lee)