SEOUL: South Korea’s parliament passed a landmark bill Thursday that would allow people to give tattoos without having a medical license.
The country currently allows only people with medical licenses to give tattoos, making it the only country in the industrialized world with such a restriction. Tens of thousands of tattooists have been working in the shadows in South Korea for decades.
The National Assembly passed the Tattooist Act by a 195-0 vote.
The Tattooist Act would introduce an official licensing system for tattooists and place them under state supervision. The act would take effect after a two-year grace period that begins once it’s formally proclaimed by President Lee Jae Myung. That step is considered a formality, as his Health Ministry has already expressed support for the measure.
The bill’s passage comes as public views toward tattoos are changing. In the past, tattoos were associated with gangsters or criminals, but they are now increasingly perceived as a form of self-expression, with K-pop idols and other celebrities openly displaying tattoos.
The current restrictions traces back to a 1992 Supreme Court verdict that defined cosmetic tattoos as medical procedures, citing health issues that could be caused by tattoo needles and ink. Authorities don’t aggressively enforce the rules, allowing tattooists to thrive in the shadows.
South Korean parliament votes to allow tattooists to work without a medical license
https://arab.news/ba8h4
South Korean parliament votes to allow tattooists to work without a medical license
- Tens of thousands of tattooists have been working in the shadows in South Korea for decades
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
