UK - Legal Status BZP/Mcpp in the UK

[100THMONKEY]

Just wanted input from anyone who has had a similar experience or know someone who has.

A good close friend of mine recently got rumbled inside a club by the bouncers with 30 pills, 3 g of coke & 1 g Ketamine. He was in the loo's bumping K with two aquaintences when they burst in. All were searched and my man was the only one with goods on him so the other 2 were released (didnt even take their names). Police were called and he was arrested and was subsequently charged with Posession of Class A with Intent to Supply - interestingly the K was not even put on the list, due to being Class C SWIM guess's; the pills have been sent off for analysis.

Anyway, this young lad (19) (and genuinely not me, I'm 38 an havent stepped foot in a club in about 10 years!) believed his pills to be MDMA therefore Class A. However SWIM had sampled these pills the week before (White Rolex 8mm x 3mm), he reported that they tasted like saline and all he got was a very slight buzz, temperature up and down like a yo yo and a headache from hell. In other words complete crap and SWIM suspect's BZP or Mcpp or a combination of both and take it from SWIM who knows about these things, they are definately not MDMA.

Obviously the lad is kaking himself thinking he is being done for Class A Supply. So, SWIM has been trying to ascertain the legal status of BZP & Mcpp in the UK but has been unable to find anything concrete. The question is are they scheduled and if so which Class? And what is he possibly looking at as his conviction? We are hoping that the 3g of coke will be posession only?

Footnote:

During this entire episode it really highlighted to SWIM the quite bizarre attitude to these sacred compounds the youngens seem to have. When SWIM confronted young lad after consuming the crap he supplied them, the lad was quite surprised to hear they were not MDMA and genuinely belivied they were the real thing because and I quote "well they do something; my mate quadrupal dropped these and done 14 during the night and was completely fucked up" No shit SWIM said, "drop 14 of anything and its likely to fuck you up". In SWIMS opinion this is where real drug education is needed, for those who want to expore these compounds we have been blessed with. The only reason we have shit like BZP and all the other nasty piprezines on the streets is because of prohibition of MDMA. But these kids dont seem to care what they are taking as long as it "fucks them up", which for an old raver like SWIM is, is a very bizarre and very scary attitude to have.

Best Pills Ever = Grey Playboys from 1996 - 159mg MDMA. Unfortunately SWIM doesnt have any left; funnily enough!

Hopefully someone will have an input, especially on he legal status of BZP etc.

Thanks for Your Time

[Routemaster Flash]

There was a thread on this topic just recently...

I'm pretty sure BZP is technically a "prescription-only medicine" but not actually scheduled as a banned substance. According to Wikipedia "to this date there has not been a successful prosecution in the UK for the sale of BZP, so its legal status remains uncertain", so although your mate may technically have been breaking the law by selling them (whether he was selling them or not of course, just going on the number he had on him) I'd say it looks very unlikely he'd be prosecuted, let alone convicted, for it. It's definitely much less illegal than MDMA, put it that way.

On the other hand, if he was selling them as ecstasy maybe they could do him under the Trades Descriptions Act?

I'm no legal expert but if they are a piperazine and don't contain any MDMA I think he'll probably just be looking at possession for the coke.

[psychedelaholic]

Pretty sure BZP and mCPP are not classified, they were sold as party pills in head shops until they realised that they were covered under the 1968 medicines act which meant you needed a license to sell them but not own them. Means you can still legally import bzp and mcpp pills to the UK although I think the law is being reviewed very soon.

Hopefully he will get off with just a caution for the 3g of coke possession but the fact he was selling them as ecstasy and himself believed it to be a class A drug he was selling he still may get in trouble. If he had told them they were legal pills to begin with then he would almost certainly be ok. I doubt he will get in that much trouble no matter what the verdict is though especially if this is a first offence, a bit different if he has past confictions.

SWIM's friend got caught with a lot of mdma, lsd, 2c-x's, mescaline and a load of other crap whilst selling at festivals and all he got was 100hr community service working in a charity shop although he did get a criminal record. It didn't even effect his university degree though.

[100THMONKEY]

Well, both replies are quite reassuring thanks fella.

I dont think he said anything in his first interview so hopefully.....

And personnally I agree, the little tosser should be charged against the Trade Description Act. Although SWIM did report that the little oink did make it up by his mate providing a g of quality MUD to SWIM free of charge

[Subvert]

SWIM got done with what was thought to be a gram of Molly (In retrospect the taste was far too bitter to be) which failed the marquee test and subsequently never went to court over it. From the effects It's safe to say It was piperazines.

A lot of pills in the UK are BZP/MCPP based now,
SWIM remebers the younger heads taking them to get fucked up & after getting caught with some find out they were dud and get off scot free.

[Routemaster Flash]

Originally Posted by Subvert

SWIM got done with what was thought to be a gram of Molly (In retrospect the taste was far too bitter to be)

There exists a substance more bitter than MDMA?

It was SWIM's understanding that, if anything, piperazines are a sort of bitter-sweet taste. At least, that's how SWIM would describe some pills he had lately that he thinks were pips rather than ecstasy (those very hard, smooth, almost 'too well-made' pills that are all over the UK at the moment - yeah, you know the ones...).