KEY POINTS:
A young Auckland hairdresser has collapsed and died in what could be New Zealand's first death involving legal party pills.
Daniel Knights, 25, of Blockhouse Bay, died early on New Year's Day after partying in the Far North with friends and family.
He was buried yesterday and the coroner is investigating the cause of his death.
Kaitaia Police Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn said the young man took a variety of drugs.
"There is an indication he may have taken the legal party pill substance... We understood he may have taken ecstasy."
Daniel's mother Judy said her son had been drinking and partying with his brother and sister at a hired house in Kaimaumau, north of Kaitaia, in the hours before he died. He may well have been taking party pills, she said, and that may have caused him to have a heart attack.
"He just collapsed. He started shaking and he went a colour. He had been going all day and they started to worry that he wasn't getting any better," she says.
Gunn said it was still too early to know what caused Daniel to collapse. He died in an ambulance on the way to Kaitaia Hospital early on January 1.
Gunn suspected a combination of substances had proved to be a fatal mix: "We won't know the results for sure surrounding what substances it was that killed him until the coroner rules on the cause of death."
The celebrant at Daniel's funeral yesterday said his death was "a New Year's celebration gone horribly wrong".
Judy Knights told the congregation Daniel had always stuck by friends who had become "heavily into drugs", saying they were good people who had lost their way.
Experts say the tragedy is a timely holiday season reminder about the dangers of mixing drugs and other substances. They say legal party pills are stimulants and mimic the effects of ecstasy.
Forensic Programme Manager at the ESR Keith Bedford said he was not aware of any adverse reaction between BZP - the party pill substance - and ecstasy, but their effects would be worse if they were taken together because they were both stimulants. While taking alcohol and amphetamines was dangerous, taking two amphetamine-like substances together could have even worse consequences, he said. "You are playing [Russian] roulette when you take illegal drugs and you don't know what you are taking.
"Ecstasy is an amphetamine derivative and an amphetamine speeds up the heart.
"If you take two similar substances together, the person might become overheated... it could compound the effects."
Daniel Knights ran his own Epsom hair salon, Toni and Co, and played soccer and table tennis.
He was the youngest of four children. "I know every mother says this, but Dan was special and he loved life," said Judy Knights. "He was just a phenomenal guy."
The case comes as the Government looks to ban party pills, claiming they are potentially deadly.
The pills are freely available from places such as dairies and service stations and they allow users to experience a high so they can party all night.
The Government's concern follows studies about the drugs' active substance, benzylpiperazine or BZP, which show that it causes frequent and severe side effects, even at low and recommended doses.
"We know that severe adverse effects from the use of 'party pills' occur unpredictably," Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton has said.
"They have the potential to kill. Everyone should know that."
What are party pills?
What's in them?
Party pills are sold under a wide range of product names including Charge, Kandi and Red Hearts. The main active ingredients are benzylpiperazine (BZP) and triflurophenylmethylpiperazine (TFMPP). BZP has been found to have effects similar to low potency amphetamine while TFMPP is reported to have effects similar to ecstasy.
What has been done so far?
In March 2004, the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) decided there was insufficient evidence to classify BZP and related substances as either Class A, B or C, and recommended that research into BZP prevalence and harm be commissioned. In June 2005, BZP was classified under the newly created Schedule 4 of the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 as a Restricted Substance.
The sale and supply of BZP is restricted to those 18 years old and over.
Source: APN files
Party drug deaths
October 1998: Auckland woman Ngaire O'Neill dies after taking ecstasy at a nightclub.
March 2000: Whangarei man Jamie Langridge, 24, dies suddenly at an all-night dance party after taking ecstasy.
March 2001: Nelson barman Dai Bowden, 32, "drowned" from drinking too much water after taking ecstasy.
April 2001: Auckland student Shawn Jacob Brenner, 22, dies after overdosing on fantasy.
