Herbal pills responsible for serious health risks

In a yet-to-be published study, lead researcher and emergency medicine specialist Paul Gee tallied up 61 patients who sought treatment at Christchurch Hospital's emergency department for severe reactions to party pills on 80 occasions over five months this year.

Numbers had not decreased since a law change in June restricting sales to those over 18, Dr Gee said.

A number had suffered seizures after taking the "recommended" dose of just two, he said.
Of those seeking medical treatment, 15 patients suffered "toxic seizures", falling unconscious, shaking uncontrollably, and in some cases had lost control of their bladder or bowels.
Such seizures could last from a few seconds to more than an hour, Dr Gee said.
"I'd like this stuff outright banned."

Many took the pills thinking they were safe because they were legal and described as herbal, he said.

But Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said the Government was working "darn hard" on looking at the effects of herbal pills on users, but stopped short of saying a ban of the drugs would be recommended.

Mr Anderton said he had received advice from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) that the herbal pills were not dangerous enough to ban.

"As far as I know BZP (benzylpiperazine – a chemical found in party pills) has not yet killed anybody."

Mr Anderton said the pills could make some people very ill, and occasionally they might come close to dying, "but no one yet has died as far as I know in New Zealand".

"I have taken advice from the EACD on this matter, and the advice was `we think there are reasons why this should be looked at more closely. Around the world we can only find one example of anyone who's died from this drug, but even then there are questions around it'."

Mr Anderton said two government-funded research programmes looking at the effects of BZP were running at the moment.

Mr Anderton said he would put measures forward to ban BZP if research found it was an inherently dangerous substance.

"I need the evidence, I haven't got it yet."

National's health spokesman Tony Ryall said his party backed more research on the pills but he also would not be calling for a total ban just yet.

National was in favour of close monitoring on the selling of the pills and felt regulation of access was required. " But in terms of banning access of these party pills, we're not in a position to state what our position on that is."

The New Zealand Drug Foundation warned against banning BZP, saying such a move would be against the best evidence available.

"It is absolutely imperative that we make decisions on the legal status of drugs based on the evidence, and the evidence alone," foundation executive director Ross Bell said.

By law, the pills could not be sold to anybody under 18 and the pills needed to carry appropriate health warnings.

"By banning party pills, there is a real risk that these restrictions will disappear. The regulations provide useful controls that we would otherwise not have if the substances were illegal," he said.
"It would be interesting to know how many people are presenting to Dr Gee's emergency department with alcohol-related problems and whether he thinks alcohol should be banned accordingly."