Hong Kong is set to ban a newly emerging drug known as "space oil" next year by adding it to the existing narcotics law, the security minister has said.
The drug, usually packaged as e-cigarette capsules, contained the anaesthetic etomidate, which could cause mental and physical harm, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Wednesday, vowing to tackle the rising prevalence of space oil by updating the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
Etomidate would be added to the list of banned substances in the first half of next year, he added.
Once the drug is listed, anyone possessing, smoking, inhaling, injecting or otherwise ingesting space oil containing etomidate will face up to seven years' imprisonment and a HK$1 million (4.35 million baht) fine, Tang noted. Trafficking in the substance could result in life imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million, he added.
Tang said frontline anti-drug workers noticed the emergence of space oil last year after the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, with some young people vaping it.
According to government figures, 69 people have been arrested for possession or sale of the drug so far this year, up from nine cases in 2023. Six teenagers were arrested last week by Kwai Tsing district police on suspicion of selling or possessing space oil disguised as e-cigarette capsules.
The Action Committee Against Narcotics reported last month that space oil had become the third-most popular drug among young users, after cannabis and cocaine, in the first half of the year.
Among more than 450 reported young drug abusers aged below 21, nearly 75 had used space oil.
The committee explained that space oil was a liquid with no standard formula but usually containing etomidate, which could only be prescribed by a doctor, and sometimes mixed with other drugs such as cannabis and ketamine. Etomidate is currently regulated as a Part 1 poison under the law.
Vaping space oil can cause serious physical and mental harm, including addiction, memory loss, seizures, loss of consciousness and death, the committee warned.
In a supplement to the city leader's policy address published last week, the government indicated it would step up control of etomidate.
Tang said education about the dangers of space oil was the backbone of reducing demand and authorities had already started to work with the school sector.
The commissioner for narcotics wrote to all primary and secondary schools earlier this year alerting them to the problem of vaping space oil.
The bureau's narcotics division has also been providing information on space oil's harmful effects in its anti-drug talks in schools.