New Zealand - New party pills leave 4 seriously ill

[chillinwill]

Health officials want one of the main ingredients in new-generation party pills restricted after four users became seriously ill.

Advice to the Government highlights concerns about DMAA (dimethylamylamine), a derivative of geranium oil, which is a "psychoactive substance" that reportedly gives users an adrenaline rush.

DMAA is included in several new-generation party pill substances, including Sunrise and Hummer.

These flooded the market when BZP varieties were banned and were now being sold nationally in stores, including dairies, without age restrictions.

Papers released under the Official Information Act showed a 45-year-old man suffered a stroke after taking DMAA in powder form, and other users had been hospitalised with severe nausea and headaches. The industry estimates 100,000 DMAA-based party pills have been sold since the banning of BZP in April.

A Health Ministry report to the Government's expert drug committee responsible for classifying drugs said while the hospital admissions were believed to be due to DMAA use, there was not enough evidence to ban the substance.

"[But] the ministry believes the regulation of DMAA as a restricted substance would be a preferable course of action to the status quo, which offers no controls around the marketing and availability of the substance."

It follows calls by drug experts last week to also make "chemical cannabis" marketed as Spice or Dream a restricted substance.

The restricted-substance classification was introduced in November.

It gives authorities greater control over the sale and marketing of a substance, including age restrictions.

Emergency department heads blew the whistle on DMAA after a spike in users admitted to Wellington and Waikato hospitals following the ban on BZP pills. Four serious cases at Waikato Hospital in June and July prompted the Health Ministry to issue a voluntary suspension of its sale in powder form in October.

A report to the committee in November said because only powdered DMAA was recalled, pills containing the substance were "still widely available".

The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs could not be contacted.

However, Drug Foundation director Ross Bell said DMAA should be classified as a restricted substance "as soon as possible".

He said the effects of DMAA were unknown.

Classification would mean the product could be sold with health warnings, but children could not legally buy it.

Matt Bowden, founder of party-pill developer Stargate International, would welcome DMAA restrictions.

Problems were being encountered because there were no restrictions on the quantity used in pills, he said.

WHAT IS DMAA? DMAA, or dimethylamylamine, is a stimulant derived from geranium plant oil and is usually mixed with other substances, including caffeine, to make party pills. It acts on the central nervous system, giving a rush similar to adrenaline. It is believed DMAA was first synthesised in the 1940s as a nasal decongestant and is also found in dietary and body-building products. The Health Ministry says the composition of the substance cannot be verified as there is no international research. While most users take DMAA orally, at least one hospital admission was linked to the substance being injected.

Anna Chalmers
The Dominion Post
Monday, 12 January 2009
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4815416a6009.html

[geministar2008]

I think these should be banned.

SWIM was extremley ill after taking head candys here in the UK.

Within half hour of taking 1, he was being sick constantly for over 12 hours! He was hallucenating, had chills and sweats.
He thought he was dying, he had to have a doctor out to who had to inject him with a drug to calm his system down. he was awful

He has taken plenty of illegal drugs and been fine. And these are legal, a bit ironic dont ya think???

[Sven99]

Read the rules re: self incrimination

Swim has been very ill from alcohol plenty of times in his younger years, but thats not an argument for banning it.

[Alfa]

Try finding a hummer or use this one:

Originally Posted by geministar2008

I think these should be banned.

SWIM was extremley ill after taking head candys here in the UK.

Within half hour of taking 1, he was being sick constantly for over 12 hours! He was hallucenating, had chills and sweats.
He thought he was dying, he had to have a doctor out to who had to inject him with a drug to calm his system down. he was awful

He has taken plenty of illegal drugs and been fine. And these are legal, a bit ironic dont ya think???

No, far from it. You could just as well argue that the effects from synthetic drugs where fine, but the effects from plant extracts made him sick. Therefore they should ban all plants.
That reasoning would make just as much sense.

Head candy contains LSA seed extract, which can make one sick when taken too much. This has nothing to do with geranamine AKA DMAA (the topic of this article)

Reputation Comments on this post:

Well said

[geministar2008]

thanks sorry just learning on here. I realise who and what swim means now.

[magicmik]

Swim recently obtained 1g of DMAA powder, which has been tentatively experimented with.

Oral: doses of 20 and 50 mg have been taken, resulting in a mild stimulation (jaw clenching and wakefulnes) but mind and thoughts drifting and a lack of concentration.

Insufflation: ~ 15mg. Burnt and stung incredibly and had a taste/smell of burnt wood. Mild stimulation but more dissaciation of body and mind. Swim tried to do a work out (as this substance is used by body builders) but really was not able to concentrate.

Smoked/vaporised ~ 10mg. Mild stimulation and energy more speed like and a lot different to snorting. Swim may try this method again for the course of science.

Swim would say that with all methods there was no eurphoria so swim certainly would not buy these pills with DMAA in or take this powder for a party.

Reputation Comments on this post:

A useful post, but probably in the wrong section of the forum. Should be posted in a DMAA experience thread. Perhaps ask...

[Greenport]

There needs to be some kind of standardizing that would prevent all these people out to make another dollar from putting everything under the sun into stamped pills and passing them off as mdma.

We can't ban every substance they do this with because eventually we're going to start seeing things like tylenol and benadryl in these. It's the corrupt people, not the substances themselves, that are really causing the problem, and there should be some sort of law that says purposely selling a mislabeled substance is more punishable in court. Even if the said compound is illegal. One day people are going to put something really deadly in these and the world will see what the big deal about this is!

Somethin's gotta change because enough people are getting sick as is. The pills are already occasionally laced with meth, speed, caffeine, psychedelics, PMA, BZP/TFMPP and probably many others. And once any of them gain a good reputation, here come the copycats to make their meth and bzp replicas. Then swiY starts hearing things on the streets like "oh the RED, flat-bottomed smileys are good but don't trust the red round-bottom ones. All the orange smileys are bad - yellows alright but kind of weak. And the blue ones? They cut with meth, man. Stay away from the blues. Unless it's round-bottomed, cause those ones are bomb." o.O;

Ridiculous, it's effing russian roulette!

[radiometer]

If the stuff is that ineffective, then people are probably hurting themselves by taking more and more of it, hoping to get a decent high.

I like how the article uses a picture of an entirely different product that they are writing about.

[Greenport]

Originally Posted by radiometer

I like how the article uses a picture of an entirely different product that they are writing about.

Ah didn't even notice that. That picture isn't used in the original article either so it must be a google-found one.

[chillinwill]

^^Whoops, I just did a quick google search when posting article to find pic for DMAA and that is what came up. I never realized that the pic had nothing to do with the article.