Party pills keep Kiwis off P - retailer

A total ban on party pills would see the more dangerous methamphetamine fill the gap, a retailer of the pills has told MPs.

Auckland Hemp Store director Chris Fowlie said MPs should stiffen the regulations around party pills rather than ban them completely.

He today told MPs considering legislation to ban benzylpiperazine (BZP) - the active ingredient of most party pills - that the more dangerous methamphetamine would step into the gap.

Mr Fowlie said when he started selling the pills 10 years ago many customers credited them with helping them get off methamphetamine.

If the pills were banned, people would still buy them illegally or substitute them with methamphetamine, which was more harmful and readily available.

Illegal drug dealers would not draw the line at selling them to under 18-year-olds.

Mr Fowlie told Parliament's health committee a far better approach would be to tighten existing regulations and the enforcement of them.

He said the previous regulation of party pills had been pathetic.

The regulation banned sales to under 18-year-olds and partially banned advertising.

But Mr Fowlie said his shop had never been inspected to check whether it was complying with the regulations and the Health Ministry had not even written to retailers outlining the regulations.

Mr Fowlie said no-one had died from taking party pills and in cases where there were adverse effects it was usually after taking high doses, combined with alcohol.

He believed an education campaign could be funded through a levy on the industry.

Christchurch City Councillor Helen Broughton urged MPs not to change the bill.

She said there was significant community concern about the availability of the pills, which were getting into the hands of underage teenagers.

Under questioning from MPs, council legal services manager Chris Gilbert, accepted there had been little enforcement of the existing regulations by police, who seemed to view party pills as a low priority.

When asked if the council also supported a ban on alcohol and tobacco, which both caused deaths and also generated considerable community concern, Ms Broughton said the council did not support such a ban.

She said the two legal drugs were so entrenched it would be impractical to ban them.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia suggested party pills might be similarly entrenched, with one in eight New Zealanders estimated to have used them.

Last week National MP and anti-party pills campaigner Jacqui Dean told the committee party pills should be banned as they were a gateway drug.

Asked about this, Mr Fowlie said it would become less so if a blanket marketing ban was placed on the pills.

- NZPA