Three Female Students Caught Vaping in School Toilet in Kowloon Tong; Incident Briefly Suspected to Involve "Etomidate" and Alerted Police

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Yesterday (10 September) at around 10 a.m., a secondary school on Oxford Road in Kowloon Tong experienced a false alarm over alleged drug use by female students. When a discipline master at the school met with a Form 2 female student, he noticed a smell of smoke on her and that her hands were trembling. He suspected that she and two other female students had been vaping etomidate, commonly known as "space oil," in the toilet. The school subsequently called the police for assistance.

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The incident took place at a secondary school on Oxford Road, where a 51-year-old female discipline master surnamed Choi met with a 13-year-old Form 2 female student surnamed Kwan in her office. During the meeting, the discipline master detected a distinct smell of smoke on Kwan and noticed that she had slight hand tremors, and immediately questioned her. Kwan admitted that she had earlier vaped in a female toilet on the second floor of the school building together with two other female classmates — a 13-year-old Form 2 student surnamed Yip and a 13-year-old Form 4 student surnamed Wong. Another teacher later found an e-cigarette in the female toilet.

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Police officers arrived at the scene to investigate and conducted an on-site rapid test on the seized e-cigarette pack using a test strip. The results showed that no etomidate was detected. Police subsequently took away the test strip and the e-cigarette pack for further investigation. No one was arrested at the scene. Police confirmed that the three female students had only vaped ordinary e-cigarettes and that the incident did not involve drugs. The case has now been formally referred to the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office of the Department of Health for follow-up.

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The Education Bureau said it is highly concerned about the incident. The school concerned has reported the matter to the Education Bureau, and has immediately activated a crisis management team to follow up seriously in accordance with its school-based discipline and guidance mechanism. The Education Bureau has reminded schools to strengthen the cultivation of correct values and behaviour among students.