NZ PARTY PILL EPIDEMIC MAY LEAD TO AUSTRALIAN BAN ON BZP

Research showing overdoses with "herbal" party pills in New Zealand
have resulted in hundreds of people needing in hospital treatment may
lead to the pills being banned in Australia.

A study, by Waikato Hospital's Dr Tonia Nicholson, found 125 of 1043
emergency admissions at a New Zealand hospital were the result of
over-indulging in herbal party pills.

Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton, who is in charge of drugs policy, said
in January three research projects currently underway into the effects
of benzylpiperazine (BZP), the active ingredient in legal party pills.

If the pills, which can currently be sold to anyone over the age of
18, were proved sufficiently dangerous they could be banned, he said.

The stimulants produce effects similar to amphetamines: users risk
organ damage, seizures, high blood pressure and hyperthermia by taking
too many or mixing them with alcohol.

Dr Nicholson said one New Zealander had died after mixing BZP with
amphetamines and two others had been in intensive care after taking
the pills.

The pills have been responsible for hundreds of recent drug overdoses
in New Zealand, and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
is deciding whether their key ingredients -- pepper extracts
benzylpiperazine (BZP) and trifluromethylpiperazine -- should be
slapped with Australia-wide sales restrictions, the Sun Herald
newspaper reported in Melbourne.

BZP pills are illegal in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia and are
not readily available in Victorian retail outlets.

National's Otago MP Jacqui Dean, has previously called for the
Government to impose tighter restrictions on advertising, banning the
sale of pills from bars and liquor shops and keeping them under the
counter and out of sight in shops.