Dentist prescribes 2,000 appetite suppressant tablets... Drug of abuse - South Korean report

The number of people unconditionally prescribing appetite suppressants, which are designated as illegal drugs, has been found to be at a serious level. Rep. Kim Yoon (proportional representation, Democratic Party of Korea) of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee said on the 24th that the number of people unconditionally prescribing appetite suppressants, which are designated as illegal drugs, is at a serious level.
An analysis of data submitted by the Korea Drug Safety Agency confirmed that more than 225 million appetite suppressant tablets were prescribed last year, with more than 1,126,000 patients receiving prescriptions.
When calculating the amount prescribed and the number of patients on a daily basis, it turns out that appetite suppressants are prescribed to over 3,086 patients on a daily basis, totaling 616,600 tablets.
As of June this year, more than 196 million tablets have been prescribed to 835,000 patients, with an average of 4,589 people receiving more than 602,000 tablets per day.
Although the average daily prescription amount decreased compared to last year, the number of patients who received a prescription increased by 48% (1,503 people).
The dentist who prescribed the most appetite suppressants per patient was from Gyeonggi-do
It was confirmed that the dentist was affiliated with a dental clinic in Gwangju, Gi-do. It was revealed that the dentist prescribed 1,920 appetite suppressant tablets to each patient last year.
The appetite suppressant was prescribed at a dental clinic that had nothing to do with medical treatment. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety established the guidelines for the "Safe Use Standards for Medical Drug Appetite Suppressants" in August 2020 and
However, since the right to prescribe is the sole authority of the doctor, there is no provision for sanctioning those who violate the guidelines.
Regardless, a total of 3,782,000 tablets have been prescribed to 40,860 young people over the approximately five-year period from 2020 to June 2024.
Appetite suppressants, designated as drugs, can cause insomnia and hallucinations when taken in excess, as well as mental disorders in severe cases.
Fatal side effects such as abnormalities in organ function and schizophrenia can occur. The number of reported side effects from appetite suppressants increased from 190 in 2020 to 316 in 2021 and 2022.
The number of cases has been steadily increasing, from 319 this year to 342 in 2023, with 215 cases reported in the first half of this year alone.
Rep. Kim said, "Since June of this year, the Food and Drug Safety Agency has been investigating whether doctors are misusing or not using the drug on patients.
"We have implemented a drug prescription verification system to prevent abuse, but we can only verify prescriptions for fentanyl, so we need to expand that to include appetite suppressants," he said.
"Excessive 'medical shopping' is also a problem, but the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety needs to impose strict disciplinary rules on hospitals that prescribe excessively large amounts of medicine."
He continued, "Although an integrated drug management system was established in 2018, the misuse and abuse of medical drugs remains a serious problem."
"It is imperative that we quickly prepare measures to strengthen safety management, including preventing the misuse and abuse of not only appetite suppressants but also medical drugs."