KEY POINTS:
The Government is moving to counter new products from the party pill industry, which hopes to stay afloat despite the impending ban of its main products.
Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton yesterday revealed plans to outlaw so-called herbal highs containing benzylpiperazine (BZP) and related synthetic substances.
A legislative amendment will be introduced to the House shortly. The move has the support of most political parties, including National, virtually assuring it of becoming law and creating a major headache for the $35 million-a-year industry.
Mr Anderton hopes that by Christmas BZP party pills will have the same legal status as cannabis: manufacturers and importers will face eight years in jail, and having more than 100 tablets or 5g will be classed as possession for supply.
The party pill industry expected yesterday's decision and is already working on alternative substances, but the Government is pursuing measures that would impair the companies' ability to run businesses.
The Law Commission and the Ministry of Health are looking at a system which will require producers of legal highs to prove their products are safe before they can be sold.
"We're not just simply banning one product. We're looking at a framework that puts the onus of proof [of safety] on them," Mr Anderton said.
"That might actually point them in a new direction for their occupations ... This is a warning for those who think they can easily just substitute a whole range of BZP [with] ABC and XYZ and it will be all right on the night."
At present manufacturers, unlike pharmaceutical companies, face no such safety requirements.
"They've been able to produce anything ... and it seems to me entirely wrong that citizens have to prove [safety when] the manufacturers make $35 million a year," Mr Anderton said.
Matt Bowden, a leading party pill supplier and head of the industry's representative body, said BZP products should not be removed from the market unless there was something "even safer" to replace them.
"We'll continue working with government to develop a system to work out how safe is safe enough."
Party pill retailers yesterday warned that the ban would push BZP products underground and send people to dealers in illegal drug stimulants such as methamphetamine.
John Frew, owner of Erox, a chain of adult stores that sells the pills, said it was naive to think users would simply go cold turkey.
"There's no use pretending that people who like to go out late at night are going to have nothing ... They're going to go back to the illegals, which is a shame when [the industry] could have been regulated so easily."
Mr Anderton rejected that. He said a survey of university students found they knew the dangers of methamphetamine and would not make it a party-pills substitute.
"BZP has been known to have some nasty effects on people, so if it's illegal and has nasty effects, it might have a bit of a disincentive," he added.
A leading drug researcher, Dr Chris Wilkins of Massey University's Centre for Social and Health Outcomes, said the decision to ban BZP was a tough call but probably the right one.
"While most users reported fairly minor problems, a small number of users had experienced serious problems and had been admitted to hospital with potentially life-threatening conditions," he said.
Professor Richard Beasley, director of the Medical Research Institute, which carried out a government-funded study of the pills, said taking BZP carried the risk of severe adverse effects.
"We were concerned at the frequency and severity of the adverse reactions that were experienced, in doses that were up within the high range of what the manufacturers recommended," Professor Beasley said.
Once the ban is passed into law, anyone possessing less than 5g of BZP would have a six-month amnesty against prosecution.
Following that, the penalty for possession would be up to three months jail and/or a fine of up to $500.
Party pills
* More than 20 million party pills have been sold in New Zealand since 2000.
* A Massey University survey this year found they were the fourth most widely used drug in New Zealand.
* One in five people between the ages of 13 and 45 had tried the pills at least once.
* The main ingredient, BZP, is already banned in the US, Australia, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Greece and Malta.
