KEY POINTS:
The main ingredient in party pills is not fit for animal consumption and should have been banned years ago, says former detective turned drug educator Mike Sabin.
Parliament last night voted 109-11 to pass a bill classifying benzylpiperazine (BZP), the main ingredient in nearly all party pills, as a class C drug - the same as cannabis.
A handful of MPs, including Hone Harawira from the Maori Party, have spoken out against the banning.
Mr Harawira said it was "ridiculous" to ban the pills when tobacco and alcohol remained legal and were causing death and decay to Maori. No one had died from using party pills, he said.
Mr Harawira lamented the bill's sponsor - Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton - suggesting it was a political move made easy because the Government was not making money from pills as it was with tax from alcohol and cigarettes.
But Mr Sabin, director of drug education organisation MethCon Group, said Mr Harawira's attempts to talk down the danger of party pills were "as ill informed as they are ignorant".
"While I agree organised crime will likely seize on the extra stimulant market that party pills have created, that's the price we all have to pay for using our citizens as drug guinea pigs for the last eight years," Mr Sabin said.
"The simple fact is that BZP was not fit for animal consumption, let alone human consumption, and the use of it had to end."
Mr Sabin said by creating a demand for stimulant highs, organised crime would no doubt move to fill the gap, more likely with gel caps packed with cut methamphetamine or ecstasy than BZP.
"Party pills have normalised the notion of recreational stimulant use and the implications of that social experiment will be with us for time to come.
"The only problem with banning party pills now is that it's eight years too late."
- NZPA
