A Singapore mum has come forward to share the harrowing account of how her 18-year-old son’s addiction to Kpod vapes had sent their lives into chaos, allegedly causing him to collapse, bleed, and lose control of his senses.
In an interview with Shin Min Daily News, 39-year-old Ms Tan said her son, a polytechnic student, started using Kpods last year.
Since then, he has reportedly shown increasingly erratic behaviour, including collapsing both at home and in public.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Ms Tan first grew suspicious after noticing strange behaviour from her son, who’s been living with her since her divorce four years ago.
“He started acting like he wasn’t in his right mind,” she told Shin Min.
When she searched his room, she found used vapes that looked nothing like regular ones — some were semi-transparent and unusually long, allegedly marked with skull symbols and the word “poison.”
Her son later admitted they were Kpods.
Despite repeated pleas for him to quit, he kept vaping.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Ms Tan believes he sourced the devices from Telegram or friends.
On 7 Apr, the teen claimed he was heading to a friend’s house for dinner and a swim.
When he didn’t return home by nightfall, she called him and noticed his speech was slurred, leading her to suspect he had vaped again.
Using phone-tracking, she located him at a residence in Serangoon and confronted him and his friend at the gate.
The friend allegedly shoved her and said, “If you keep doing this, your son will never take care of you in the future.”
When she accused the friend of supplying the vape, he retorted, “Your son can’t even afford it now.”
Ms Tan then called her ex-husband for backup. A scuffle broke out, and the friend reportedly punched the boy’s father. Even the friend’s own mother was hit when she tried to step in.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
The friend’s vape was later found in their room, though the family insisted it belonged to Ms Tan’s son.
Just this week, Ms Tan said she returned home to find her son lying on the ground with a vape in hand, bleeding from his limbs.
“He was completely dazed, but still trying to refill a new pod. It broke my heart.”
She called an ambulance and the police. Medics tried to advise the teen, but to no avail.
Officers confiscated the vape but could not take further action.
Ms Tan admitted she had been afraid to call the authorities earlier, worried that any fines would fall on her as the parent.
“I really don’t have the means to keep paying if this continues,” she explained.
“Parents will always blame themselves,” she confessed. “Did the divorce affect him? Was I too busy with work?”
Ms Tan’s elder sister said the teen used to be well-behaved and close to the family. Now, she helps Ms Tan watch over him to prevent further incidents.
Source: Juan Jose Napuri Guevara. Pic for illustrative purposes only.
In a desperate attempt to understand her son’s struggle, Ms Tan said she once grabbed the device from his hand and tried it herself.
“The first puff did nothing,” she recalled. “But by the second, my mind went blank. My body was paralysed. It lasted for about 15 minutes. That’s when I realised how terrifying the zombie vape truly is.”
When her ex-husband took over care duties for a few weeks in June, their son reportedly vaped again and collapsed at his father’s home. A urine test was done, but it returned negative.
Also read: S’pore man hooked on ‘Kpod’ vapes tries to jump from corridor, attacks mother who stops him
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.