In early July, the Hong Kong government announced their plans to rename the ‘space oil’ drug as its current street name makes it sound too appealing. The authorities have now decided to officially call it ‘etomidate’, after its main narcotic ingredient.
Hong Kong’s security chief Chris Tang said on Thursday, August 1, that ‘drug traffickers make use of the name to promote a sort of fantasy [...] and I think this is absolutely wrong’. Space oil is essentially a narcotic substance containing etomidate, a short-term anaesthetic used in clinical practices to induce sedation. The government has been clamping down hard on this drug since it gained popularity around 2023, especially among Hong Kong’s youth, since it is relatively cheap and convenient to consume when inhaled through vaping devices.
According to the authorities, 327 people in the city were recorded to have used etomidate in the first half of 2025, which exceeds the total record from the entirety of last year. Among these drug users, approximately 60 percent were aged 21 or younger. In February this year, the categorisation of etomidate was upgraded to a dangerous drug, alongside cocaine and ketamine.
The government believes that by not referring to etomidate as space oil any more, the drug will be glamourised less and people will be increasingly deterred from taking it. Do you think this smear campaign on ‘space oil’ is going to work?
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