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Since dropping his solely daughter in a fall from their high-rise flat in Singapore, Delfard Tay has turned grief into function, sounding the alarm on drug-laced vapes that put youngsters’ lives in danger.
Authorities within the Southeast Asian island state have clamped down on e-cigarettes, introducing strict measures final month to fight a worrying rise in the usage of so-called KPods—vapes spiked with artificial medication similar to ketamine.
Tay informed AFP that his daughter, 19-year-old Shermaine, was combating substance abuse earlier than her loss of life final yr.
“Initially she was vaping” nicotine substances, he stated, however someday “she showed me this new product… you smoke and you get high.”
Shermaine was referring to etomidate, a short-acting anesthetic that may set off hallucinations, seizures and erratic conduct.
Very like different vapes, KPods usually draw younger individuals, and regardless of being unlawful, are available on on-line platforms like Telegram.
“E-vaporizers have changed the landscape of substance abuse. There are more young people involved out of curiosity, or succumbing to peer pressure,” Singapore’s Well being Minister Ong Ye Kung informed lawmakers final month.
Vaping, which appeared 20 years in the past as a substitute for smoking, was already banned in Singapore since 2018, however laws in place as of September 1 reclassified it as a drug-related offense with harder punishments.
Now, anybody caught with e-cigarettes dangers a wonderful of as much as 2,000 Singapore {dollars} (about $1,550), and repeat offenders face obligatory rehabilitation or caning if they’re Singaporean, or deportation for foreigners.
Promoting or importing drug-laced vapes carries jail phrases of as much as 10 or 20 years, respectively.
Crackdown
There isn’t any official information on vape-related accidents or deaths, however Tay stated that his daughter’s loss of life has pushed him to talk up in regards to the risks of KPods.
Shermaine’s lifeless physique was discovered on the foot of their house constructing in September final yr.
Video footage confirmed her staggering out of the flat earlier than the autumn—conduct her father stated is according to etomidate use.
“Even if one person is saved from KPod use, my daughter’s memory would have served its purpose,” stated the one father, who now usually shares movies on-line and was not too long ago tapped to inform his story in a authorities marketing campaign to discourage vaping.
Singapore has mobilized 10,000 officers to implement its anti-vaping crackdown, raiding evening spots and patrolling public locations like parks, metro stations and colleges.
Inside the first three weeks because the new laws had been launched, 656 individuals had been caught for vape-related offenses together with 44 who possessed etomidate vapes, in accordance with official information.
Singapore has among the many hardest anti-drug legal guidelines on the earth, which embrace the loss of life penalty for sure offenses.
The federal government briefly categorized etomidate, which is utilized in hospitals to sedate sufferers, as a Class C dangerous drug, whereas it crafts simpler laws towards the brand new menace.
‘Zombie spice’
Social media customers have more and more shared movies of Singaporean teenagers “walking like zombies”, purportedly after puffing KPods, triggering alarm.
In scenes uncommon within the city-state, a 17-year-old boy was filmed in July strolling erratically inside a metro prepare. He appeared disoriented and stumbled in the direction of the prepare doorways earlier than falling backwards.
The Well being Sciences Authority, which is main the anti-vaping crackdown, stated a vape was present in his possession.
Drug-spiked vapes in Singapore often include etomidate, however authorities warn they might be laced with extra harmful medication sooner or later.
Usually smuggled by land from neighboring Malaysia, the place vaping is authorized, KPods are sometimes marketed below flashy names like “zombie spice” or “space oil”, and masked with fruity flavors similar to mango or blueberry to spice up their attraction.
Authorities have stood by the blanket ban on e-cigarettes, at the same time as some just like the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Hurt Discount Advocates have warned that such insurance policies may merely push the commerce underground.
Information analytics agency Euromonitor Worldwide stated that “over 75% of global e-vapor volume is driven by illicit market” and that 31% of customers worldwide reside in locations the place the units are prohibited.
Tay, the advocate, sees urgency within the anti-vaping marketing campaign.
He has a message to younger individuals: “KPods will kill your dreams, steal your future.”
Talking of his daughter, he stated, “she had big dreams. Those dreams are now gone.”
© 2025 AFP
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Grieving Singapore father on mission to save lots of teenagers from drug vapes (2025, October 9)
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