Party pills under threat

The days of teenagers freely popping party pills and the industry's ability to mass market them may be numbered.

Parliament health select committee is to decide whether the sale of legal party pills should be restricted.

It will meet over the next three weeks and a recommendation is expected to go to Parliament next month.

The Waikato Times reported on Saturday that Waikato Hospital was treating one person a week for pill overdoses.

The chairman of industry group Social Tonics of New Zealand, Matt Bowden, said while there was no conclusive evidence of ill-effects, sale should be controlled by legislation.

With proper labelling and regulation the number of people treated for party-pill related ailments would be minimised, he said.

Retailers say they now voluntarily sell the pills only to people over 18.

There is likely to be scrutiny of safety and labelling rules.

Drugs containing benzylpiperazine (BZP) -- like Euphoria, Jax, Bolts, Jump and Rapture -- are sold as dietary supplements, a classification opposed by manufacturers.

Mr Bowden said the biggest problem was that people used BZP with alcohol and illicit drugs.

"I think that if we move away from alcohol and illegal drugs the number of adverse effects we see from these products will decrease because we will have strict quality controls in place."

BZP has been banned in America and two states in Australia.

However, an expert advisory committee last year decided there was no objective grounds on which to ban them here.

The health select committee is now considering an addition to the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill (No 3).

This could see party pills put into a new classification of drugs, less harmful than Class C drugs or drugs of moderate risk.

The National Poisons Centre in Dunedin is applying for ethical approval to research the effects of BZP.

- NZPA