Ever since Michael Jackson’s death, Diprivan, or Propofol as it is also known, a powerful sedative used exclusively inside a hospital setting has become a household word. Diprivan is typically used by anesthesiologists for putting a person under during a surgical procedure.

Within days of Michael Jackson’s death, two rumors were floated regarding Diprivan. The first was that he and an unnamed doctors (or doctors) were using it to treat insomnia. The second was that Diprivan was being abused as a drug.

If Diprivan drug abuse seems farfetched, it’s not. Anesthesiology News reported in its May 2007 issue, “One in five academic anesthesiology training programs reported at least one case of abuse by physicians or other healthcare workers over the past decade, new research shows. The incidence of propofol abuse has risen fivefold over the last 10 years.”

At this time Diprivan drug abuse was considered confined to medical staff inside of hospitals. But, with Michael Jackson’s death, the FDA is now considering defining the drug as a “controlled substance” which place additional restrictions on how Diprivan is prescribed and distributed.