Singer Psy (real name Park Jae-sang) was referred to prosecutors on charges that he obtained prescriptions for psychotropic drugs such as sleeping pills and anti-anxiety disorder treatments through a non-face-to-face process and had them picked up by his manager.
On the 2nd, according to the police and legal circles, the Seoul Seodaemun Police Station sent a total of six people, including Psy, the university hospital professor who prescribed the medication, and the manager who picked up the drugs on his behalf, to prosecutors without detention on charges of violating the Medical Service Act.
Police said that, based on their investigation, Psy is accused of receiving non-face-to-face prescriptions from a large hospital in Seoul for Stilnox and Xanax, which are psychotropic drugs, from 2022 through last year, and then directing that instead of picking them up himself, the drugs be collected by a third party such as his manager.
Psychotropic drugs, which require in-person medical care, and the background for applying the Medical Service Act violation
The current Medical Service Act strictly provides that only doctors who directly examine a patient can issue a prescription.
Prescriptions and medications are also generally required to be picked up by the patient directly. Exceptions apply only when the patient is unconscious or cannot move, in which case a representative pickup by a direct family member, among others, is allowed.
The Xanax and Stilnox that Psy was prescribed are professional psychotropic drugs with a high risk of misuse. Since the government sets strict principles for both in-person medical care and pickup by the person themselves, the circumstances surrounding this pickup through a proxy were deemed a violation of the Medical Service Act.
No wrongdoing found in the allegation of proxy prescribing using someone else’s name… Only third-party pickup was acknowledged
The case began after a tip related to it was filed last summer. Police identified the facts by summoning Psy and other related parties for questioning in private.
The alleged illegal “proxy prescription” that had been raised on the premise of using someone else’s name was found to have no basis for the charges, according to the results of the police investigation. The prescription was properly carried out under Psy’s own name, but only the allegation of “proxy pickup,” in which legal requirements were violated in the final pickup process, was recognized and the case was forwarded to prosecutors.
Psy’s side: “We admit a clear mistake, and we will faithfully cooperate with the remaining investigation”
Earlier, Psy’s side said it would apologize after the allegations first surfaced in August last year, through an official statement.
At the time, his agency said it was an “obvious lapse” that prescription-only drugs were picked up by proxy without following proper procedures, and it admitted wrongdoing. However, it drew a line by saying the claim that there was an illegal proxy prescription that used another person’s name was unfounded.
In a statement on the day the fact that the case was referred to prosecutors became known, P Nation, Psy’s agency, reaffirmed its position that “the police investigation has been concluded, and we will also cooperate faithfully with any subsequent investigation by prosecutors.”
