As prohibitionist insurance policies tighten, drug customers in finding loopholes to stay the usage of, steadily on the expense of their very own fitness. There even appears to be an instantaneous courting: the stricter the state keep watch over, the extra bad the other elements evolved to bypass the legislation. As a result of there’s no scarcity of opportunists who, within the absence of environment friendly state apparatuses, release a wide variety of unsafe medication onto the unlawful marketplace.
These days, this kind of scenario is unfolding in Asia, the place increasingly international locations are discovering instances of etomidate use, grimly nicknamed “zombie juice.” In recent times, this extremely addictive compound has begun showing in e-liquids for vaping in China, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Macau, Indonesia, and Malaysia, in accordance to the United Countries Workplace on Medicine and Crime (UNODC), and could also be spreading to different continents. Different resources additionally declare that etomidate use is turning into a public fitness factor in Japan.
In spite of makes an attempt through government to ban and curb this drug, its use continues to extend, as do deaths attributed to it. So, what’s happening?
What’s etomidate?
Etomidate is a fast-acting intravenous anesthetic utilized in scientific settings. Whilst it’s used to urge normal anesthesia through suppressing central apprehensive gadget task, its actual mechanisms aren’t absolutely understood. Its unwanted effects come with ache, nausea, hallucinations, amnesia, disorientation, numbness of the extremities, and adrenal disorder. It is usually a extremely addictive substance when administered with out skilled supervision. In line with a 2024 find out about, persistent etomidate overdose could cause irreversible mind injury, psychological issues, behavioral problems, or even loss of life.
It’s particularly the lack of motor keep watch over and seizures that earned etomidate the nickname “zombie juice.” Tremors, reminiscence loss, fainting, and deaths have additionally been seen in leisure customers.
As of late, its use has transcended medication: actors within the unlawful drug marketplace are blending etomidate into e-liquid tablets for vaping. This mix is understood through many names: kpods, area oil, giggling gasoline, zombie juice… steadily offered in digital vaporizers with a number of flavors and attention-grabbing colours. Those are unusually simply got via social media and encrypted messaging platforms, the place they’re purchased through an alarmingly younger consumer base.
One particularly alarming development (and possibly essentially the most terrifying) noticed around the continent is that many customers don’t take etomidate on objective, however accidentally, mistakenly assuming they’re the usage of ketamine, hashish, or simply nicotine. The danger skyrockets once we imagine that those adulterated cartridges are indistinguishable from commonplace ones.
Government in most cases reply with strict bans: reclassification, heavy fines, lengthy jail sentences, or even bodily punishment. Alternatively, as has been noticed with different elements, such measures aren’t sufficient. For instance, China has attempted to prohibit this substance a number of instances, however with every try, new analogues temporarily emerge to switch it, equivalent to metomidate, isopropoxate, and propoxate.
Etomidate in Asia: What’s the Deal
As we discussed, this drug is wreaking havoc at the fitness of folks throughout Asia, however the specifics range through nation. Subsequently, under we delve into the issues in some areas to higher paint an image.
Japan
In Japan, the placement with etomidate is already being in comparison to the fentanyl disaster in america, in accordance to Japan Ahead.
Talking with Top Instances, Dr. Yuji Masataka, a professional in cannabinoid medication, shared that regulatory government have nicknamed etomidate “Zombie Tobacco.” The fabrication, importation, sale, ownership, and intake of this drug started to be banned in Might of this 12 months. Alternatively, a brand new product known as “Ketapen” (a ketamine vaping product) had already begun circulating on social media in March. As of late, the physician explains, “it’s now extensively suspected amongst customers on social media that the contents weren’t ketamine however slightly etomidate (despite the fact that it kind of feels ketamine could have first of all been integrated, with etomidate later added to accentuate the impact).”
Eastern legislation enforcement is dealing with an unheard of problem: specifically in Okinawa, the place even kids as younger as 10 had been arrested, customers simply download etomidate vaporizers via social media and encrypted messaging apps. This new way makes legislation enforcement’s task a lot tougher.
Hong Kong
In accordance to Asia Information, Hong Kong has been grappling with etomidate since 2023, when it all started to be bought in the street as “area oil.” Government modified the drug’s legit identify a number of instances, in the end forsaking the fictitious names andfinally settling at the identify “etomidate”. Since February, it’s been categorised as a deadly drug in Hong Kong and China.
To this point, government recorded 300 customers in 2024 and 327 extra in 2025, however the true quantity could be a lot upper. The bulk are minors, and instances of youngsters as younger as 9 years previous the usage of the substance had been reported.
These days, the penalty for possessing or the usage of etomidate in Hong Kong is as much as seven years in jail and a fantastic of HKD 1 million (USD 128,577). As well as, traffickers and producers face existence imprisonment and a fantastic of HKD 5 million (USD 642,885).
And the place such consequences fail to discourage customers, safety forces have attempted to enchantment to younger folks’s modesty, emphasizing the consequences of etomidate on frame symbol. Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Safety, warned that use of this drug could cause “drooling, hair loss, facial hair enlargement in younger ladies, or pores and skin and genital ulcers and deformities.” He additionally famous that the substance can result in “undignified and indecent self-harming behaviour in public that may be simply recorded and posted on-line.”
Alternatively, you will need to explain that no longer all of his claims are supported through clinical proof (we now have no longer discovered, for instance, any research linking etomidate to facial hair), they usually could have been exaggerated to to scare or surprise younger folks.
Singapore
The location could also be essential in Singapore, the place etomidate has been popularized below the identify Kpods. Social carrier companies have seen an building up within the selection of sufferers looking for lend a hand after abusing the substance; maximum are between 15 and 29 years previous, however there were instances as younger as 13, CNA studies.
Probably the most elements nerve-racking the placement is the lack of information surrounding the drug, its long-term results, and its perceived dangers. It appears, many younger folks imagine that, because it’s a substance used medicinally, it’s no longer bad for leisure use.
Social media and encrypted messaging apps also are the way in which those vaporizers are trafficked, making them more straightforward to buy and hampering legislation enforcement’s paintings.
In accordance to CNA, the drug rehabilitation middle Addictions Restoration Singapore said that “etomidate isn’t the one possibility. Now we have noticed proof that vape liquids can be clandestinely laced with ketamine, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and artificial cannabinoids… This dramatically raises the stakes, as people could also be fully blind to what they’re breathing in, compounding the danger of unpredictable mental reactions and multi-drug dependence.”
Actually, a random research of vape pens confiscated in July printed that one in 3 contained etomidate, The Mum or dad studies. Moreover, peddlers at the illicit marketplace it sounds as if advertise this substance as undetectable in urine assessments.
In regards to the regulatory scenario, Singapore is without doubt one of the international locations with the cruelest drug consequences, together with the loss of life penalty. Whilst vaping generally has been banned since 2018, the placement with etomidate has led government to impose much more critical measures.
Any person stuck the usage of vapes laced with etomidate faces fines of SGD 500 (USD 388) for the ones below 18, or SGD 700 (USD 543) for adults, and obligatory rehab systems lasting as much as six months. For repeat offenders, fines upward push to SGD 2,000 (USD 1,552) and/or 10 years in jail. Importers, however, will face sentences of between 3 and two decades in jail, along with flogging. On the market and trafficking, the penalty is imprisonment.The age prohibit levels from 2 to ten years, and corporal punishment could also be integrated.
Past sentencing, measures can be applied to locate and curb etomidate use in tutorial institutions and airports. This comprises saliva and urine checking out in faculties, the place scholars stuck vaping or who fail those assessments will face self-discipline and imaginable expulsion. Boxes for world vacationers to discard their vapes can be put in at airports, and warnings are deliberate. Thus, foreigners may face the similar consequences as locals, along with attainable deportation and a ban from getting into the rustic.
The threat of prohibition
It’s onerous to not evaluate the etomidate scenario in Asia with different fitness crises led to through drug abuse, such because the opioid disaster in the US.
Historical past repeats itself: this isn’t the primary time that an anesthetic drug has turn into used recreationally at the unlawful marketplace. Cocaine and ketamine are possibly the most well liked examples of this pattern, along with the aforementioned fentanyl. And as with those medication, prohibition, some distance from deterring customers, pushes them to hunt increasingly more dangerous possible choices. Actually, some resources hyperlink the unfold of etomidate to the classification of man-made cannabinoids.
It’s a vicious cycle: punishment doesn’t make drug use vanish; it simply fuels marginalization and lack of confidence. Around the globe, we see international locations that hang to the Conflict on Medicine fail to succeed in their goals, gas the unlawful marketplace, and hurt essentially the most susceptible.
Asian international locations have a harsh historical past relating to substance use: 0 tolerance, extraordinarily punitive measures, social stigma… In all probability this is a chance for government to attract inspiration from different, extra humane and health-focused strategies (that have confirmed time and once more to be more practical) for safeguarding their folks.
