1 MILLION PARTY PILLS ON WAY TO THE BAY

Nearly one million party pills with a retail value of more than $6
million will soon be dumped into the market by Tauranga man Gary Read.

Mr Read, who owns NZ Party Pills, expects stocks to run out before a
proposed ban comes into force in December.

The 40-year-old finished a run of 950,000 pills shortly before
Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton announced he expected a law
banning the pills to be passed by Christmas.

Mr Read believes people will now start stockpiling party pills. The
average packet of three pills retails at $20.

Tauranga's Aristocrat Adult Shop, which stocks party pills from about
10 different suppliers, also believes people will begin stockpiling.

A spokesperson said they thought banning them was a "big mistake".
"People will just go back to the harder stuff."

While sales at Aristocrat had remained steady since news of the
impending ban, the shop was expecting a big rush as users stockpiled
prior to the proposed ban coming into force.

Mr Read's business, NZ Party Pills, began last November and supplies
pills to about 270 outlets, mostly in the North Island, 14 of which
are in Tauranga.

He said business had picked up since Mr Anderton announced he would
introduce legislation to ban the pills, saying sales had increased
and the looming ban would push pill prices up.

"I won't be doing another one [batch of pills] before I work out what
the class is [drug classification]. I'll probably run out."

A recovering cocaine and speed addict of 13 years, Mr Read sees his
six varieties of party pill, all of which contain the drug stimulant
benzylpiperazine (BZP), as a healthier alternative for those
dependent on Class A drugs, in particular methamphetamine (P).

Over a year of research, Mr Read said he used P addicts to test his
products, one of which is named "Sub P", suggesting it as a
substitute for the real thing.

Mr Read believed the media's negative portrayal of party pills failed
to take into account the side-effects of other widely used drugs, in
particular paracetamol. He also believed the public remained
uninformed about other products containing BZP.

Mr Read said a lot of people who bagged party pills were "lounge
lizards" who used weight loss products which contained the drug, but
in much lower doses.

Banning BZP will only result in the manufacture of party pills going
underground with the legal alternatives not providing users with the
same results, he said.

"They're a step down and that's not going to satisfy enough people,"
said Mr Read.

He said none of his staff would lose their jobs over the ban although
a number of graphic designers, couriers and contracted factory staff
would be affected. "The industry as a whole has been gearing up for
it for a long time anyway."

If the law is passed putting BZP in the drug class C1, the same as
cannabis, those found selling or manufacturing it could face up to
eight years imprisonment. Party pill poppers will have a six-month
amnesty for carrying up to 100 pills before possession could result
in up to three months' imprisonment, a fine of up to $500 or both.

Acting Western Bay police area commander Inspector Karl Wright-St
Clair could not recall any serious injuries or deaths occurring in
Tauranga as a result of party pills and was unaware of the extent of
their usage in the Bay or what impact the proposed ban would have on policing.

"Alcohol plays a far greater role than party pills. I'd have to say
that that's of far more concern to us," said Mr Wright-St Clair.

He said the suggestion that party pill poppers would now switch to
harder alternatives was an opinion held by those who were pro-party
pills rather than the greater community. "I'm yet to be convinced
that that would be the case because there are those harder drugs available now.

"It may well be that when they make it illegal people won't use them."