THREE doctors working for the Andalusian health service are being investigated after prescribing more than 20,000 psychotropic tablets to the same patient in nine months.

The man, originally from Villanueva de la Concepcion, is a drug addict and is being treated with methadone. He has a large number of criminal records.

The Guardia Civil launched an investigation after the College of Pharmacists in Malaga found that large quantities of medicines were being prescribed to one person, well above the legal limit.

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The council brought the matter to the attention of the Health Care Inspectorate, which forwarded the complaint to the Guardia, which investigated the matter.

Officers determined that the patient repeatedly went to the Villanueva de la Concepcion Health Center to request a prescription for psychotropic medications, specifically Alprazolam and Clonazepam.

The man regularly came to the centre to request new prescriptions, claiming he had lost his medication.

According to the Guardia, he was prescribed 66 boxes of the drug in one month.

Between January and October 2023, he was prescribed 372 packages of psychotropic drugs, a total of 20,290 tablets.

In order not to arouse suspicion, the man then collected the medicines from various pharmacies in the province of Malaga, receiving up to six boxes per day.

In some cases, a pharmacy itself has cancelled the prescription as a precaution, because there was a suspicion that the drug was being used illegally.

The blockade was later lifted by the doctors themselves at the health center, so that the medicine could be administered.

According to the Guardia Civil, these types of psychotropic drugs are usually used by drug addicts and generate a lot of money when sold on the black market.