KEY POINTS:
Party pills containing the chemical BZP will be banned from next month under a law change passed in Parliament last night.
Under the new law, manufacturers and retailers have until April 1 to stop making and selling the benzylpiperazine-based pills. Consumers will have six months to consume any pills they have for personal use.
The act classifies pills containing BZP as a class C drug - the same level of classification as cannabis.
Party-pill king Matt Bowden told the Herald he would take a step back from the industry to concentrate on a music career after the ban.
The party-pill supplier and head of the industry's Social Tonics Association started his company Stargate with wife Kristi in 1998.
He said he had slowly stopped selling party pills "when things got rough" but would put a stop to all the company's stock on April 1.
"I sing, I play the guitar, I've got a band. I'm working on a jazz, electronica project, that's all I'm going to say."
Mr Bowden denied that the industry had made him a millionaire like many politicians had said.
"I've got one house, a car that works, a family.
"People talk about the party-pill business being a 26 million dollar industry but you forget that there are probably 1000 businesses in the industry."
But he will keep lobbying the Government - and speak to overseas Governments - about allowing party pills to go through the same testing process as medicines.
"I'm 36. In my demographic, people are more comfortable taking a pill rather than drinking, which makes them feel aggro.
"A blue-collar professional said to me today, 'I'm going to have to buy my drugs illegally now', after hearing about the ban."
Several legal party pills would still be on New Zealand shelves but the ban would drive people to harder drugs, Mr Bowden said.
"People will think, 'I'm trying to find Ecstasy'. So they'll go around on a mission to purchase it off some crack for $60. But with party pills they think, 'If I just walk down the road to that shop, I can get a pill for $40. It's dependable, I know what I'm taking, I'm not going to die'."
The bill passed 109 to 11 with only the Green, Maori and Act parties opposing.
Associate Health Minister and Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton said he was pleased with the new law.
"This law is important, as it gives out a positive message against psychoactive drugs, and that we give protection to young people from those who would exploit them." National MP for Otago Jacqui Dean said the delays in getting the legislation through had allowed manufacturers time to develop new herbal highs which were not classified under the legislation.
"While Mr Anderton has been asleep at the wheel the party-pill industry has flourished to the extent that pills are now one of the country's most commonly used drugs and in just three years have come from nowhere to be entrenched in many communities.
"Pill-sellers tell me they already have plenty of stocks of other kinds of herbal highs to replace them.
"We will need to act far more quickly in the future if we ever hope to keep on top of the growing drug culture that is developing in this country."
Maori MP Hone Harawira said Mr Anderton was a killjoy and he thought it ridiculous to ban the pills when tobacco and alcohol remained legal.
He said there was not enough evidence behind the ban.
Act MP Heather Roy doubted the legislation would make any difference.
Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said the expert advisory committee on drugs found BZP posed a moderate risk of harm.
He said there had been two public consultations on the bill as well as extensive debate in the media which justified the implementation date.
"No one in this industry in my view is able to claim that there has not been sufficient warning of this ban.
"I believe that party pills will virtually disappear from New Zealand following the enactment of this bill."
Green MP Metiria Turei said providers were not being given time to comply with the law considering they had to reconfigure businesses and in some cases fire staff. She had tried, but failed, to extend the period.
Ms Turei described Mr Anderton as a "Muldoon Mini Me" for deciding to change the law but not allowing time to adjust. She said it was "utterly irrational" to think outlawing the pills would eliminate their use.
LAW CHANGE
* Party bills containing BZP (benzylpiperazine) cannot be made or sold from next month.
* Consumers have six months to consume any pills they have for personal use.
* The law change was supported by all political parties except the Greens, the Maori Party and Act.
- NZPA
