Kpod user profile has shifted from junkies to new addicts, experts say

Many are young with no prior history of drug addiction; no clear explanation for the shift

- Zaihan Mohamed Yusof Senior Correspondent and Claudia Tan

In just a few months, experts say, the profile of a typical Kpod user has shifted from adults with a history of drug use to youth abusing substances for the first time.

Senior consultant psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow, who was previously chief of the addiction medicine department at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), said many of the Kpod-related patients he saw at the end of 2024 were already using other drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin.

"They (Kpod addicts) developed problems because they found it difficult to stop, and usually got high multiple times," said Dr Winslow, who now works in private practice and runs Promises Healthcare.

"Because they've had a previous addiction, they tend to chase highs, which means they use higher doses. These are the people who develop hallucinations and dissociations," he said.

Kpods are e-vaporisers laced with drugs such as the anaesthetic etomidate.

In the first half of 2025, Dr Winslow noticed that most of the patients were young people between the ages of 15 and 40, with no prior history of drug addiction.

He has seen 24 cases of Kpod addiction to date who were referred to his clinic.

"About 90 per cent of the youth who are taking Kpods are actually mild abusers," said Dr Winslow. "They are abusing (Kpods) just to get high or to experience something different, and are not really physically addicted."

Singapore had its first indication that its young people were using Kpods in April, after a 13-year-old girl was found behaving erratically outside the State Courts while puffing on an e-cigarette.

In the first half of 2025, the Health Sciences Authority detected 28 cases involving Kpods, up from 10 cases recorded in 2024.

Mr Narasimman Tivasiha Mani, co-founder of youth mental health charity Impart, said it handled only one case of a Kpod user in 2024, who was also a methamphetamine addict.