PARTY PILLS USERS GAMBLE WITH BRAIN AND BODY HARM

If you take a party pill you should brace yourself for a cocktail of
dangerous and debilitating side effects that may cause permanent harm.

The ingredients in the pills _ eight million of which have been sold
since they became legal to sell to over-18s in 2000 _ can cause
serious toxicity in your body even at recommended doses, according to
the National Poison Centre (NPC).

In severe cases, a person may suffer a seizure, movement disorder,
cardiac disorder, hyperthermia, liver or kidney toxicity, the
Dunedin-based NPC told the Bay of Plenty Times.

It also emerged yesterday that a major Government-funded study into
the effects of the benzylpiperazine or BZP _ the main ingredient in
party pills _ was aborted because of health side effects on its 35
participants.

The subsequent report said BZP had severe negative effects,
especially if taken with alcohol.

Among the symptoms experienced by the mostly-male test group were
vomiting, vision problems, dizziness, confusion and agitation.

Dehydration, fatigue, convulsions, hallucinations, nausea and
feelings of being stressed are all known as common problems directly
linked from taking party pills containing piperazine and BZP. The NPC
said there were at least 65 different brands of party pills on the
market with newer formulations containing up to 10 times the BZP
content of older brands.

On Saturday, the Bay Times reported that the use of party pills by
under-age Bay teenagers was rife and many users were unaware of the
serious side effects.

The Ministry of Health said people aged under 18 were at particular
risk of being harmed by the pills as their brains were not fully developed.

But people aged under 18 were not the only ones giving medical
experts cause for concern.

The Poisons Centre said it had enquiries from breastfeeding or
pregnant women who had taken party pills wanting to know about the
risk to their infant or foetus.

Andrew Brown, a poison information officer with the centre, said
pills containing piperazine and BZP may induce severe toxicity in
pregnant women which in turn may cause toxicity in the foetus and
increase complications in pregnancy.

In addition, a withdrawal syndrome may be induced in the child
following delivery.

There was very little information about the pills or how they
interact with other medicines or medical conditions.

"We do not know what a safe dose is, what is dangerous and what may
be lethal. Additionally, no one has described what kinds of effects
they have on the human body," Mr Barnes said.

Concern about party pills appears to run the spectrum of local health
professionals.

Pharmacist Mark Arundel, of Bethlehem Pharmacy, said if BZP caused
health problems then it should only be available through prescription
or banned altogether.

"There is a general awareness that because it is freely available it
is safe. It is a very interesting area and it raises a whole lot of
issues. You cannot keep control of it if there are not controls
around it," Mr Arundel said.

Accident & Healthcare on Second Ave, an after hours GP service in
Tauranga, has had two cases in the past month of people coming in
complaining they were suffering from the side effects of party pills.

Manager Dave Gilbert said on both occasions the patients were sent to
Tauranga Hospital for treatment.

The number of patients turning up at the hospital's emergency
department complaining of side effects of party pills is slowly
increasing, department head Dr Derek Sage said.

People coming in the day after taking them stayed in hospital for
anywhere between three and 24 hours with symptoms such as a racing
heart, anxiety and paranoia.

While the Bay Times has only been given anecdotal details about party
pill usage in the Western Bay, one in five of people aged between 13
and 45 who took part in a Massey University study last year said they
had tried party pills at least once.

David Benton, clinical director of Hanmer Clinic, a drug outpatient
treatment centre in Tauranga, said party pills could be considered a
dependent drug.

"If you take something that makes you feel good and then you do not
take it and feel bad you tend to return to taking it," he said.

"It probably falls into a category such as alcohol in that it panders
to the belief that you cannot have a good time without having something in you."