LEGAL DRUGS SET TO STAY LEGAL BUT AGE LIMIT MAY BE SET

Party drugs derived from pepper plant are likely to stay legal but a new
drug category may be established so an age limit can be set on who can buy
them.

The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD), an independent body made up
of police, health, customs and drugs experts, found that based on available
evidence the drugs were not harmful when used on their own but said it
should be regulated.

The drugs contain the ingredients benzylpiperazine (BZP) and
trifluromethylphenlypiperazine (TFMPP) and go by the street names Charge,
Rapture, Blast and Exodus.

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said after receiving the EACD's
report he wanted the possibly of adding another classification to the
Misuse of Drug Act considered.

A new schedule such as Class D, would be a way to impose an age limit,
which Mr Anderton suggested be 18.

"At the moment the committee is saying hand on heart we don't think there's
a schedule for this to go on, it could have a separate one."

He said as well as the new schedule the EACD had recommended further
research be done into potential harms of the drugs, which appear to be
harmful when taken with some medicines and alcohol.

"There isn't any evidence of serious harm, true, but the jury is still out.
There's a precautionary approach here, it's better not to wait until
someone dies from these drugs," Mr Anderton said. Other recommendations
included research into how widespread use of the drugs were and that BZP
should not be able to be sold as a dietary supplement as it is now.

Mr Anderton told reporters that five young people who were taken to Dunedin
Hospital last month after apparently overdosing on the party pills had
consumed large amounts of alcohol.

Side effects of the pills, which are described as the legal alternative to
Ecstasy or P, include heart palpitations and increased blood pressure and
body temperature.

Possession of the chemicals is illegal in the United States and some parts
of Australia but there are no restrictions in New Zealand.

Mr Anderton said the US ban appeared to based on a death where the victim
had also used other drugs.

It was unclear what the Australian restrictions were based on.

The "herbal highs" are available in some shops and cost about $40 for six
tablets.

There is a significant industry around the drug with 1.5 million doses
manufactured in New Zealand last year, the report said.

People who had used the drug or had information about it were asked to
write to the EACD via the Ministry of Health.
- -NZPA