{"id":505703,"date":"2026-02-26T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/505703\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:32:10","slug":"etomidates-temporary-listing-as-class-c-drug-in-singapore-extended-to-april-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/505703\/","title":{"rendered":"Etomidate\u2019s temporary listing as Class C drug in Singapore extended to April 30"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE \u2013 The temporary listing of etomidate as a Class C drug has been extended till April 30.<\/p>\n

According to a legislative supplement published in the Government Gazette on Feb 26, the regulations relating to the anaesthetic agent etomidate and its variant, metomidate, will be extended for two months.<\/p>\n

The drugs were listed under the Misuse of Drugs Act as a Class C drug from Sept 1, 2025, amid a surge in reports of young people using etomidate-laced vapes, also known as Kpods.<\/p>\n

This allowed the authorities to introduce tougher penalties to deal with those who abuse and traffic etomidate.<\/p>\n

The temporary provisions were previously slated to expire on Feb 28. <\/p>\n

Coordinating Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had said on Feb 4 that <\/p>\n

etomidate would remain a Class C drug<\/p>\n

<\/a> as the Ministry of Health drafted amendments to current laws.<\/p>\n

He had added that a Bill will be tabled in Parliament within the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n

Etomidate, which can trigger spasms, breathing difficulties, seizures and psychosis when vaped, was previously classified under the Poisons Act as a medicinal ingredient used in clinical practice.<\/p>\n

As more abusers were caught with Kpods, the authorities moved to enact temporary regulations, <\/p>\n

listing etomidate as a Class C drug<\/p>\n

<\/a> so that they could better deal with the problem.<\/p>\n

Under current laws, those who import Kpods can be jailed for up to 20 years and given 15 strokes of the cane.<\/p>\n

Sellers and distributors can be jailed for up to 10 years and given five strokes of the cane.<\/p>\n

Over 3,500 people were caught for possession and use of vapes in the <\/p>\n

last four months of 2025<\/p>\n

<\/a>. Of these, 366 used Kpods.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 The temporary listing of etomidate as a Class C drug has been extended till April 30.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-505703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}