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Hundreds of people are stock piling cut price party pills before they become illegal from midnight tonight.
From tomorrow the pills, containing benzylpiperazine (BZP), will be outlawed after Parliament passed an amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act reclassifying it and related substances as class C drugs - the same as cannabis.
There will be an amnesty on personal use for six months, but it will be illegal for anyone to be in possession of more than 100 pills, or five grams of BZP.
Wellington retailer Quick-E Mart has been clearing out stock ahead of the ban, selling the pills for $1 each, instead of about $5, since Friday morning.
Wize Marketing head Geoff Percy, who imports and manufactures party pills, told The Dominion Post hundreds of people had been buying his remaining stock from his store in Christchurch.
The shop had not closed on Saturday, Mr Percy said yesterday.
"We've had about 500 people every day."
Penalties for possession include up to three months in prison, while suppliers could be jailed for up to eight years.
- NZPA
