KEY POINTS:
Matt Bowden, of the Social Tonics Association, doubts the Government's decision to ban the manufacturing and sale of party pills will be the end of the matter. "Legal party pills are an established part of the social scene and you can't pretend that you can just ban them without generating a reaction," he says. He, and others in the trade, see it prospering underground, possibly with gangs becoming far more involved. They would, of course, say that, especially while fighting to keep the trade legal to those aged over 18. Unfortunately, however, there is a good chance they are right.
This presumption is based on the sheer popularity of party pills. Since their introduction some seven years ago, an estimated eight million have been sold. A Massey University study found that nearly half of males aged 20 to 24 had used them. History suggests that prohibition has a chance of working only when a small number of people are using a substance or when a substitute is readily available. Neither of those factors pertains to party pills. There is a strong possibility that many young people, never the most likely to be intimidated by the law, will continue to seek them - wherever on the black market they may be found.
The Government has acted on the recommendation late last year of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs, which studied research on the danger of party pills containing benzylpiperazine (BZP). It found no evidence of deaths from the pills but worried about their frequent use with other substances, such as alcohol, or in high doses. It conceded there was no guarantee a ban would lead to decreased use of party pills but suggested their side-effects, such as nausea, dehydration and lack of appetite, would dissuade use if they became harder to find, more expensive and carried the risk of a fine or imprisonment.
Prohibition may, indeed, be the most desirable course in principle. And mounting concerns that some party pills contain illicit drugs offer a compelling argument for that course. In some cases, the police say, people have been known to take "party pills" without having any idea of the origins of the pills or their ingredients, and have suffered severe illnesses. This casts a shadow over the association's suggestion that there should be no problems with party pills if they are taken as directed. It also suggests a curtailing of a benign environment, which resulted in very, very few of those who consumed those eight million pills ending up in hospital emergency wards. Those manufacturers responsible for such blurring of the lines between legal party pills and illicit drugs should shoulder much of the blame for the Government's action.
Yet, in practice, a ban will, as those in the industry suggest, drive the pill trade underground with the rest of the illegal drug business. A more cogent response would have been to place stricter regulations on the making and sale of party pills, especially in relation to the BZP dosage and the presence of illicit substances. Effective control, including the vigorous prosecution of those found selling pills containing illegal substances, would make the pills safer. Restrictions on advertising and where the pills could be sold would make them less likely to fall into the wrong hands.
This would certainly suffice until more definitive research is done into the long-term consequences of BZP use. This may, or may not, confirm the validity of the Government's decision. Until then, a ban is based more on morality than measured thought. One thing is certain. The party pill trade is about to become more dangerous for all those involved and significantly harder to control.
