To ban or not?

Banning things they don't like or deem inappropriate has become a popular pastime for our politicians. Meat pies and sugary drinks are out for our schools, as is smacking in our homes, as the Government seeks to save the nation's youngsters from over-zealous parents or themselves, the Nelson Mail said in an editorial on Monday.

The latest to earn the black stamp is the manufacture and sale of party pills containing benzylpiperazine, or BZP. There are sound reasons for each of these examples of social engineering. However, the Government might well have cause to regret its heavy-handed action over party pills.

There is no doubt that abuse of the pills carries the potential for harm. So, too, does misusing alcohol, aspirin, flyspray or many other legal and commonly available products. In opting for the ban, the Government is following the advice of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs. The committee studied research on the danger of party pills and found no evidence of them causing deaths but raised concerns when they are used frequently, in high doses or with other drugs including alcohol. Mixing prescription or off-the-shelf pills with alcohol also can be dangerous, even lethal.

BZP products are sometimes marketed as herbal highs, as if that gives them some sort of "natural" legitimacy. To the contrary, they are built around a chemical developed as a worming agent for cattle. The use of BZP party pills is very common, particularly in the nightclub and dance-party scene. One survey last year showed that 38 percent of Kiwis aged 20-24 had used party pills in the previous 12 months, another found one in five aged 13 to 45 had tried them and a third found that nearly half of males aged 20 to 24 had used them. These figures indicate wide use - and acceptance - of the drug in the eight years since it was introduced here, suggesting the time has long past when a ban might have been effective.

There is a range of potential consequences. The worst is that the party pill scene will go underground and gangs move in. That raises the prospect of lax manufacturing or even deliberate adulteration with harmful and addictive substances. It is also possible that banning BZP will steer young people toward further experimentation with hard drugs or other damaging chemicals. The new law also stands to create a new class of criminals, with implications for their travel and career prospects, and will put further pressure on the police and justice system. Meanwhile, party pill manufacturers say they will use a planned six-month amnesty on BZP use to develop and market alternatives. One plus is that the safety of new products will have to be proven prior to their introduction.

Despite the implications, the crackdown has been welcomed by police and those involved in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. However, adding yet another substance to the banned list only highlights the hypocrisy by comparison with the way society treats the drug which causes by far the most harm, alcohol - and resentment is a key driver of drug experimentation. BZP is already banned in many developed countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan and Britain, but sales are allowed, with restrictions, in Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain. Perhaps that approach should have been trialled before the sledgehammer was applied. At least that would encourage greater manufacturing certainty than will be the case on the black market. Before closing one door, the Government should have given greater weight to what might be lurking behind the others that will inevitably open.