NZ party pill epidemic may lead to Australian ban on BZP

Research showing overdoses with "herbal" party pills in New Zealand have resulted in hundreds of people needing in hospital treatment may lead to the pills being banned in Australia.

A study, by Waikato Hospital's Dr Tonia Nicholson, found 125 of 1043 emergency admissions at a New Zealand hospital were the result of over-indulging in herbal party pills.

Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton, who is in charge of drugs policy, said in January three research projects currently underway into the effects of benzylpiperazine (BZP), the active ingredient in legal party pills.

If the pills, which can currently be sold to anyone over the age of 18, were proved sufficiently dangerous they could be banned, he said.

The stimulants produce effects similar to amphetamines: users risk organ damage, seizures, high blood pressure and hyperthermia by taking too many or mixing them with alcohol.

Dr Nicholson said one New Zealander had died after mixing BZP with amphetamines and two others had been in intensive care after taking the pills.

The pills have been responsible for hundreds of recent drug overdoses in New Zealand, and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is deciding whether their key ingredients -- pepper extracts benzylpiperazine (BZP) and trifluromethylpiperazine -- should be slapped with Australia-wide sales restrictions, the Sun Herald newspaper reported in Melbourne.

BZP pills are illegal in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia and are not readily available in Victorian retail outlets.

National's Otago MP Jacqui Dean, has previously called for the Government to impose tighter restrictions on advertising, banning the sale of pills from bars and liquor shops and keeping them under the counter and out of sight in shops.

- NZPA