‘Space oil’ ingredients reclassified as dangerous drugs in Hong Kong

Hong Kong police have made five arrests so far this year with the help of rapid test kits that can detect a chemical component of “space oil”, an official has revealed, as the reclassification of the narcotic’s key ingredients as dangerous drugs took effect on Friday.

Commissioner for Narcotics Kesson Lee said the legal amendment would increase the deterrent effect among users and dealers, in addition to giving authorities greater enforcement powers.

“We have seen that police made five arrests using the rapid test strips, with five people being arrested in five cases,” he said. “We can see that these tools have an actual impact, and I believe that frontline police officers have had a very large deterrent effect after being equipped with these test strips.”

Police officers started carrying test kits that can detect traces of etomidate, an anaesthetic and key ingredient in space oil, since mid-January as part of efforts to combat the substance’s growing popularity.

Space oil is typically packaged in e-cigarette capsules. Repeated use of the substance poses a danger to users’ physical and mental health, leading to conditions such as addiction, memory loss, seizures, loss of consciousness and even death.

Lee said officers had previously struggled to quickly determine whether a person was consuming space oil as suspects typically only carried e-cigarettes, meaning police had to take the devices away for testing – which was “time-consuming” and “complicated”.