PARTY PILLS ON THE STREET CORNER

Legal party pills are being touted by dairies, liquor outlets, petrol
stations and even a cart, wheeled into Wellington city on party nights.
Sophie Neville investigates.

It's 7.30pm, Wednesday, and a brightly lit cart has set up shop on
Wellington's Courtenay Place selling an array of legal drugs all promising
a good time.

With names like Charge, Bliss, Jet, Frenzy, Jump and Rapture, the pills
sell for about $39.95 for a pack of six. They are becoming the drug of
choice for partygoers of all ages. The Grunter, which packs the punch of
three pills in one, is the latest release.

Described by one 24-year-old accountant as her "social weaponry", they are
even being delivered almost immediately through websites and being
advertised on radio.

Banned in the United States and some parts of Australia, their sale is
virtually unrestricted here. However, the Government plans tighter controls.

The legal party pills are commonly called "herbal highs", despite being
entirely synthetic. Their main ingredient is usually benzylpiperazine, or
BZP, usually imported from China or India. Originally used for de-worming
cattle it is said to energise and keep you awake, with similar effects to
methamphetamine, or speed.

Most pills also contain varying amounts of trifluromethylphenylpiperazine
(TFMPP), said to mimic ecstasy's euphoric effects. Advertisement

One 23-year-old fan said he took legal highs every couple of weeks for a
big night out. They gave a good burst of energy and kept him in the mood
for partying.

Manufacturers and retailers say the pills are a safe and non-addictive
alternative to illegal drugs. However, doctors, drug educators and police
say they are not the healthy choice they are made out to be and regulation
is desperately needed.

Christchurch Hospital's emergency department has been inundated with
teenagers with paranoia and severe dehydration after taking the pills.
Doctors at Wellington Hospital are seeing at least two or three people each
weekend with similar symptoms. Emergency department consultant Lau Gabriel
said some patients were not sure what they had taken, drugs coming from an
unlabelled container.

"I say, 'Gee, you wouldn't buy aspirin from some homeless guy on the
street, why would you take these?' "

Dunedin police drug squad head Detective Sergeant Kevin Anderson does not
buy into claims that party pills are substitutes for harder drugs. "It's
just another drug out there that people are abusing. It's being targeted at
young people straight out of school and at university. Their whole life
stands and falls on those first couple of years at university."

He draws parallels between herbal pills and methamphetamines and says the
lack of quality control is dangerous. Claims they are safe if taken
responsibly are more or less a contradiction, he says. "If they are safe,
why do they need warnings on them?"

Life Education Trust founder and drug educator Trevor Grice said it broke
his heart to see "legal drug shops" operating so openly. He believed they
were targeting children.

"It's just ridiculous. They're giving the message that there's a better
life through chemicals."

He scoffs at claims that they are keeping people off illegal drugs. "It's
all about money. They don't care about keeping people off drugs. I work at
the coalface. I see what drugs do to people and children."

However, the legal drug market does not look like it is slowing down and
the pills have become a money spinner.

They were introduced to New Zealand five years ago by Aucklander Matt
Bowden of Stargate International, who wanted to find an alternative to
methamphetamines after his cousin died taking ecstasy. He worked with a
neuropharmacologist to create what he calls a "healthy alternative".

He initially targeted existing drug users, but demand exploded. He now
chairs the Social Tonics Association of New Zealand - set up to represent
industry players. "Initially they were mainly restricted to the nightclub
and dance community, now they seem to have a lot wider acceptance."

Retailer Cosmic Corner - which manufactures and stocks a wide range of BZP
pills - is also riding the wave of legal party drugs' popularity. In seven
years the chain has expanded from one small store to six around the
country, employing 90 people.

Sales have increased at least 60 per cent each year. Wellington's second
Cosmic Corner opened last weekend on Manners St, specialising almost
entirely in legal pills. It is open all night during the weekends and till
the early hours most other days.

General manager Murray Muir says it is certainly a growth market.

He counters arguments about party pills expanding the drug culture by
saying they are promoted as an alternative for harder drugs. "People come
into the shops and say they have had ecstasy and speed and want something
else. If we can take people away from the dangerous drugs and put them on
party pills, that's great.

"For young people it makes sense to offer them a legal alternative."

He is convinced the pills are safe if taken properly. His staff are "party
consultants" who give informed advice to customers. "When people get sick
they are usually drinking alcohol with them. That's a no-no.

"New Zealand has a culture of experimentation and we're here to help people
get through that safely. We help people go through youthful times without
dying or injuring themselves. That shows social responsibility."

Many herbal high-takers were people who had returned from their OE where
they took illegal party drugs, but didn't want to associate with "dodgy
drug dealers" back home.

"It's not hippies and people with tatts, they're office people and students
mainly."

Dodgy manufacturers were hurting the industry and he fully supported
restrictions on the drugs. Some products were being sold unlabelled and
with levels of BZP several times higher than recommended.

He supports a suggestion that Parliament effectively put the industry under
similar rules to alcohol and cigarettes.

The industry is generally tight-lipped about how many pills are sold and
how much money is being made. However, Mr Bowden estimates at least five
million pills have been sold in New Zealand in the past five years.

The Government's independent Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs report this
year estimated at least 1.5 million pills were made in New Zealand last
year alone.

The committee also looked into their safety, finding that on their own they
were not so risky that they should be banned. However, it recommended sale
restrictons.

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton hopes a new drug classification -
class D - can be established by the end of the year. It would include BZP
pills and possibly solvents and nitrous oxide.

The supplementary order paper to the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill would
bring in controls such as an R18 age restriction and rules around when and
where the pills could be sold. Advertising restrictions were likely, and
strict labelling rules.

Mr Anderton fears the legal highs are a stepping stone to harder drugs.

While appreciating the industry's self-regulation, such as an R18 rule and
warnings about dosage and the need to avoid drinking alcohol while using
the pills, he wants laws in place. "The age limit is really important.
Young people have enough adrenaline and hormones, they don't need
artificial stimulants. It's ridiculous."