Speaking in the Legislative Council, he said the government plans to roll out the kit for schools participating in an anti-drug initiative “Healthy School Programme” in the next academic year.
Under the programme, drug tests are voluntary.
Tang said the force’s test strips, deployed since January, are used for making arrests and the case for prosecutions, and are not the same as those to be used in schools.
“We take samples, including urine, hair or saliva, to test for the presence of drugs,” he said.
“So the objective is quite different.
“The Healthy School Programme adopts a rehabilitation orientation.”
Between 2023 and the end of last month, there were 493 cases involving space oil drug use, Tang said, with around 70 percent of them involving people aged below 21.
Lawmaker Dennis Lam asked if the government would consider renaming the drug, saying the current one may cause people to link it with Space X’s missions.
Tang said the government is now coming up with other names, with one potential candidate, “zombie oil”, being based on the effects of taking the drug such as skin ulcers and inflammation.
