New drugs to beat pill ban & Party pill critics fear new wave of drugs

[0utrider]

[top]New drugs to beat pill ban

And the Government's looming party-pill ban has sparked a frenzy of sales, with users stockpiling their stashes and stores selling out within minutes of the new law being passed.
The change classifies the active ingredients in party pills, which include BZP, TFMPP and four similar substances, as class C drugs - the same as cannabis.
Though shops will be banned from selling pills after April 1, an amnesty on personal consumption runs for six months.
Wellington pill shop Quick-E Mart sold out of popular brands in a rush after Thursday's parliamentary vote.
Owner Rustin Nahulandran said he planned to replace the BZP-based pills with the new versions.
He estimated that up to 15 per cent of his customers bought party pills and predicted that the new versions, which would sell for about $20, would be popular.
Meanwhile, supplier Wize Marketing is advertising "new and exciting" pills, not based on BZP, which it says have a 100 per cent "satisfaction guarantee".
The Christchurch company's website says some of its new products are much stronger formula than BZP-based products.
Wize Marketing head Geoff Percy said the company planned to introduce 22new varieties, which it had imported, on April 1.
"I can see there's money to be made, I'm not going to hide that."
He believed the pills, which contained caffeine, guarana and "other different chemical ingredients", were safe and welcomed testing of the new tablets.
Party pill retailer Cosmic Corner is also marketing products as "BZP and TFMPP free", but did not return calls last night.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4440101a10.html

[top]Party pill critics fear new wave of drugs

Ben Rodden, 23, of Greymouth, was put into an induced coma in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit last year after taking a party pill named Torque.
He was the second party-pill victim to be admitted to the unit in a fortnight.
He had collapsed at a dance party. Initial tests found BZP and caffeine in his system and a urine test revealed traces of ecstasy. Doctors said BZP was likely to have caused the collapse.
Ben Rodden was now working on the Gold Coast.
"He's right off it all. He said he'd never take them again," his father said.
Mr Rodden said he was worried that alternatives to the banned pills were being manufactured.
No research had been done into the effects of BZP before it was put on the market, he said.
Side-effects of party pills reported at emergency departments around New Zealand included anxiety, panic attacks, sleeplessness and seizures.
A study released last year found the number of patients turning up at Auckland City Hospital with party-pill overdoses had increased sharply, but they were rare compared with other drug overdoses.
Wellington Hospital emergency medicine specialist Paul Quigley said yesterday that BZP had not been a big problem in the capital, perhaps because the population was relatively well-educated.
Most of the cases the department saw were minor.
He expected people would start taking other drugs to fill the gap.
Late last year, the department had a "surprisingly large" number of people turning up who had taken the non-BZP party pill Neuro Blast, he said.
"That had quite a few problems, mainly causing significant insomnia and anxiety."
But that problem had died down.
Neuro Blast was investigated by the police last year because it allegedly contained a stimulating substance called diphenyl prolinol.
Wellington's Medical Research Institute pulled the plug on the first major clinical study of TFMPP and BZP-based party pills because of adverse health effects on participants.
Its director, Professor Richard Beasley, said yesterday that researchers were concerned the development of those pills had not been subjected to the testing required of pharmaceutical companies.
Critics say the 16-month time lag since the law change was signalled and the bill passed gave manufacturers too much time to work on new pills.
A spokeswoman for Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said Mr Anderton was aware new drug varieties had hit the market, and had instructed the Law Commission to carry out a review of drug legislation.
Drug Foundation director Ross Bell said the agency remained sceptical about the law change. While some users would give up drugs, many would find an alternative.
He also warned users against stockpiling, as those with more than 100 pills were classified as suppliers and therefore liable for prosecution.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4440119a20475.html

[Hyperspaceblastoff]

" No research had been done into the effects of BZP before it was put on the market"
theres ur problem right thurr
not the drugs, the researchers
why don't we practice safe drug usage instead of none
like lets all be abstinent to avoid getting STDs instead of practicing safe sex

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good analogy. I might have to steal that one...

[AntiAimer]

and the cycle starts all over.