Abusive use of propofol — a short-acting anesthetic agent — killed more than 300 people in Taiwan between 2010 and 2014, the Food and Drug Administration said, adding that the drug was listed as a fourth-grade controlled drug last year, so people should refrain from using it arbitrarily.
Wu Meng-hsiu (吳孟修), a section head at the FDA’s Division of Controlled Drugs, said intravenous injection of propofol is usually used for medical purposes, such as general anesthesia or sedative medication on intubated patients.
“However, it can also reduce a person’s heart rate or cause respiratory depression, so it should be administered by healthcare practitioners with heart rate or breathing monitoring equipment,” Wu said, adding that abusive use of the drug for pain relief or to assist with sleeping can cause death.
“Propofol suppresses central nervous system activity, so breathing might stop when the suppression is severe,” said Shaw Kai-ping (蕭開平), director of the Forensic Medicine Institute’s Department of Forensic Pathology at the Ministry of Justice.
Hsiao Cheng-wei (蕭正偉), a plastic surgeon at an esthetic clinic in Taipei, said that the effects of propofol vary in different people and while the dosage of normal usage usually depends on the weight of the user, clinical observation is still important.
Shaw said more than 300 people in Taiwan have died from propofol abuse in five years, including a 30-year-old woman who was found dead in her home due to a propofol overdose.
US pop star Michael Jackson was also found dead in his home after overdosing on the drug, he said, adding that the number of deaths from propofol overdose in Taiwan has dropped since the FDA listed it as a fourth-grade controlled drug in August last year.
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