MAD RUSH FOR PILLS AHEAD OF DEADLINE

Southlanders have made a mad rush for cheap party pills in the lead-up
to a Government ban that comes into force tonight, the manager of an
Invercargill party pill store said.

Today is the last day people can legally buy party pills that contain
benzylpiperazine (BZP).

Parliament passed a bill last month banning the active ingredient from
April 1 and classifying BZP as a class C drug -- the same
classification as cannabis.

The Misuse of Drugs (Classification of BZP) Amendment Act comes into
effect from midnight tonight and bans possession, but there is a
six-month amnesty for people with 100 pills or 5g of BZP for personal
use before that becomes illegal.

Ahren Webb, manager of the South Island Jordys stores, said he had had
a "crazy" weekend, selling about 10,000 pills at half the normal price
between Friday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Wellington one retailer has been clearing out stock
selling the pills for $1 each, instead of about $5.

Mr Webb, of Christchurch, arrived in Invercargill more than a week ago
to oversee to the closing of the store.

He had already closed Jordys' three Christchurch stores and said 15
staff, including three in Invercargill, would need new jobs thanks to
the law change.

The Invercargill store had been open about 15 hours a day since the
law was announced, he said.

It was not just young people flocking to the store, buyers aged up to
65 had been buying the pills.

Many were first-timers and included a group of curious middle-aged
men.

"They were like 'we might as well try them before we can't'," he
said.

BZP did not cause the social problems alcohol and tobacco abuse did,
he said.

Mr Webb believed banning BZP would push the trade underground into
organised crime and said he had heard of gangs already trying to get
hold of pills.

Implementing the ban has been a crusade of Otago National MP Jacqui
Dean.

Mrs Dean said she refused to accept arguments supporting BZP from
anyone who profited from the sale of it. Studies had proven BZP pills
were a gateway for heavier drug use, she said.

Mrs Dean accepted there was proof alcohol and tobacco were linked to
causing more social harms than BZP.