A bubble tea- or strawberry-flavored vape. Colorful design, affordable price, direct sales through TikTok. And inside, etomidate: the same anesthetic doctors use to sedate patients before surgery.
These are the so-called ‘zombie vapes’ or ‘piao piao’, which since 2023 have spread across Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and parts of Oceania at a speed that overwhelmed authorities. Their effects are unmistakable: glassy eyes, convulsions, muscle rigidity, and total collapse of motor control. On May 15, 2025, a video recorded in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, showed a woman suffering violent convulsions after using one of these devices, and it went viral within hours. Thailand had already issued official alerts in February of the same year.
The most disturbing thing is not the effect: it’s that they are sold to minors as young as 13 without any age screening, and that most of those who use them do not know what substance they are inhaling. The illegal vape market in Southeast Asia generates 920 million dollars a year.
