Legal dance drug faces ban amid fears over side-effects

[Lunar Loops]

This article come from The Guardian (UK). The EMCDDA report that it refers to (along with annex 1 & 2 of the report) can be found in the Piperazines section of the Drug Information archive.

Legal dance drug faces ban amid fears over side-effects

Alexandra Topping
Monday June 18, 2007
The Guardian

A legal dance drug known as legal XTC, Jax, Pep Twisted or Pep Love could be banned across Europe following a report from the EU's drugs monitor calling for tighter controls because of the substance's side-effects.
A joint report from Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warns that the substance, benzylpiperazine, which is available from websites and "head candy" shops, can cause a series of negative side-effects. Its authors say: "Users have reported a range of adverse reactions such as vomiting, headache, palpitations, poor appetite, stomach pains/nausea, anxiety, insomnia, strange thoughts, mood swings, confusion, irritability and tremors. Some of these occurred in the 'comedown' period, and some persisted for 24 hours after use."
The report says that due to its "stimulant properties, risk to health and lack of medical benefits" benzylpiperazine, or BZP, should be a controlled substance.
At present, it is not illegal in Europe to take BZP, a drug sometimes marketed as a "safe" alternative to ecstasy. A loophole in the law also allows retailers to sell the drug as a soil fertiliser, marked "not for consumption". It can be bought from websites, many operating from New Zealand, where "herbal highs" are a multimillion-dollar industry and 20% of the population has taken the drug.
Roumen Sedefov, the report's project manager, said there had been concern that banning BZP could lead people to use more dangerous drugs. He said there was not much data available but that they had "worked on a precautionary principle".
The European commission has six weeks to decide whether to follow the EMCDDA's recommendation.
David MacKintosh, a policy adviser at the London Drugs Policy Forum, said the monitoring centre had made the right decision. "It's a substance that not much is known about but that is being sold in the thousands. It's not regulated at all."
According to John Ramsey, a toxicologist at St George's hospital in London, websites selling BZP could already be a step ahead of the regulators. Some sites have been advertising "BZP-free" stimulants as the next generation of legal alternatives. Tests on the pills, known as "London Underground", showed one tablet containing BZP, but another with a compound found previously only in a Bulgarian cough suppressant. "It hardly inspires you with confidence," said Mr Ramsey. "The drugs are untested. I imagine they will sell anything they can make a buck out of."

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thanks for sharing the news.