BZP Rush Expected Before Christmas- Drug Foundation November 26, 2007 - epochtimes.com
The Government should have listened to the Expert Advisory Committee and applied more restrictions to BZP three years ago - rather than a complete ban in December, the New Zealand Drug Foundation says.
From December 19 party pills containing BZP will become illegal to sell and possess. The pills are being reclassified as a Class C drug, like cannabis, under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell warns that banning them just before Christmas could drive demand.
He was concerned that the ban would encourage users to stockpile for the Christmas-New Year period.
He said the Drug Foundation opposed the banning of BZP, and instead was calling for more restrictions, including removing the sale of them from dairies.
"For some reason the Government chose to put some regulations in, but not many. The industry got out of control and the community became concerned."
"You can credit the Government for putting some money into research around party pills, but they failed to do some deeper work around the regulations," Mr Bell said.
He hopes that party pill users will prove him wrong - that people won't stockpile before the ban.
"I really hope people will show some responsibility and look after themselves. It is a bad time of year to have them banned, people will buy them on the 18th and put them aside for Christmas and New Year."
Mr Bell welcomed the closure of Auckland-based party pill store London Underground from December 18. This store was running trials on drugs that could evade the BZP ban.
A non-BZP pill trial in August by the store put a man in hospital with breathing problems, a numb body, and blood pressure twice as high as normal.
"London Underground is some of the worst parts of the industry," Mr Bell said.
He said BZP was pretty harmless when compared with other drugs.
"The big unknown is what people are going to try instead of party pills.
"If people are going to choose between illegal drugs, they will probably take ecstasy," Mr Bell said.
"There won't be much demand for BZP because it is not a great high and it has a bad come-down."
Environmental Science and Research (ESR) forensic programmes manager Keith Bedford said Britain faces the same challenges with the growth of the party pill industry.
"When BZP appeared in New Zealand the Government found that there was no way to restrict them."
Almost nothing was known about BZP when it was first introduced to New Zealand, he said, so it was difficult to offer advice to Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton.
"We did not have enough information to provide the Minister with how BZP should be classified."
He said even now it is possible that the party drug industry can find drugs that fall outside the current legislation.
"Drugs that are chemically similar but different can escape scheduling in any endeavor to get around the Misuse of Drugs Act."
National MP for Otago Jacqui Dean has been a key player in the campaign against "the party pill fiasco" for the last three years.
"Mr Anderton ignored community concern about their sale, and allowed the market to become well established in New Zealand, before he decided to ban them," she said in a press release.
BZP is currently a Class D drug allowing the Government to place restrictions on its availability, through restricting advertising and putting an R18 rating on it.
|