Confessions of an Exodus eater

Michael Foreman

The sales girl at the Hemp Store in Auckland must have put me down as an Exodus virgin the moment I walked into the shop.

I had asked for a tube of four capsules in the most casual manner I could muster, but she immediately asked me if I had ever taken them before.

Having established that I was a first timer, she began to reel off a long list of dos and don'ts.

"Start with one or two only, and make sure you take them no more than an hour after eating something," she said. "Don't take them if you are expecting to sleep over the next few hours and on no account are you take them with any other drugs."

A little alcohol - in moderation - was okay. But she warned me most emphatically not to even think of doing anything other than taking Exodus orally in the capsule.

I presumed this meant I was not to inhale the contents of the capsule or take it as a suppository. Bearing in mind the active ingredients of Exodus are compounds found in pepper I imagined the latter could be quite painful.

Finally, the shop girl advised me that I would probably enjoy the experience more if I combined it with some kind of physical activity such as dancing.

As a precautionary measure I had decided to take the first dose at home alone, reasoning that if I began to feel ill, I could just go to bed.

I took two pills at 7pm and waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually, nearly two hours later, I began to feel something.

The sensation, very subtle at first, was of mild euphoria but with a little trepidation mixed in there too. It was like setting off for the airport to depart on a long-anticipated holiday, without being able to shrug off the feeling that you have left something turned on at home.

Over the next 20 minutes the euphoric buzz increased slightly while the edgy feeling diminished but never went away entirely.

After another 10 minutes I was confident, and a little relieved, that the effect of the drug had reached a plateau. I was feeling good but I felt no desire to take the remaining two capsules.

Exodus is marketed as a substitute for Ecstasy but I had not felt anything near the roller coaster rush associated with the onset of a first-time Ecstasy experience.

Two tablets was, however, a conservative dose. An acquaintance who is no stranger to the "real thing" took four capsules at once and described his purchase of Exodus as the best $40 he had ever spent.

My experiment was also limited by the fact I was taking the drug alone. One of the reasons Ecstasy is so popular is that it amplifies and enhances all aspects of the social experience. In particular the feeling of empathy towards one's fellow human beings can reach near-mystical levels.

Although I had a couple of enjoyable phone conversations with friends, it was a bit like trying to assess the effects of alcohol by drinking a six-pack on the couch.

The girl at the Hemp Store was right about not taking Exodus if you were planning to sleep. The effects petered out at around 3am but I couldn't get to sleep until about 5am.

The next day, apart from tiredness, there were no unpleasant effects.

Anderton says the process and the criteria used in New Zealand differ from those used by the DEA, so a drug being classified in the US does not necessarily mean that it will be outlawed here.

"It doesn't mean it's better, worse or whatever. That's just the way it is. If someone has got evidence, cold hard evidence, that [BZP and TFMPP] do come within the criteria and they are actually or potentially harmful, then let's have it. But the ministry is saying to me that they haven't got any. Until they have, I can't say: 'oh, well, ban it because I say so, because I want it to be, or somebody else says so'."

But according to one dance pills distributor who did not want to be named, BZP and TMFPP could be the forerunners of a vast range of as yet unclassified drugs due to arrive on our market soon.

"I'm talking to the people who are manufacturing [piperazine-based pills] and they are making a killing. No doubt other things will come on the market. How can they let these three manufacturers get away with it and then stop other people importing all the other ones that are available through Europe and Australia? I've just been reading a catalogue from Holland and they are available now."

The distributor, who also owns other companies involved in the supply of "grow lamps" for indoor cannabis cultivation and cannabis pipes or "bongs," is a key figure in the legal business sprung up around the much larger illicit drugs industry.

He says this sector is much bigger than most people realise.

An estimated 250-300 "head shops" and other outlets sell cannabis pipes and herbal highs, and there are a further 100 or so grow-light and hydroponics shops catering to indoor marijuana growers. Furthermore, he says, a surprising proportion of the gardening supplies businesses are, with varying degrees of complicity, supporting cannabis production.

He remembers when sales representatives from the now-liquidated gardening supplier Watkins used to call at his grow-light business at the start of every cannabis growing season.

"They would say they were gearing up for their 'big time,' selling seedling trays, potting mix, fertilisers, and what have you, which was all aimed at the outdoor [cannabis cultivation] market. They knew that for a couple of months, 20% to 30% of their income was all to do with the cannabis trade. Head office didn't acknowledge that, but the reps definitely knew where it was all going."

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the distributor believes the New Zealand economy would benefit from the full decriminalisation of cannabis.

"They reckon that the crop in New Zealand is worth $1 billion. It's huge, mate.

"If New Zealand wanted to decriminalise and do it properly, I hate to think of the amount of money that would be involved. We are known as the 'land of the long white cloud' and we have our 'clean green' image. The cannabis connotations of both of these phrases would be worth an absolute fortune."

The distributor is also highly critical of the Misuse of Drugs (Prohibition of Cannabis Utensils) Amendment Act, popularly known as "the Bong Act," which was introduced by the National government in 1999. The stated purpose of this law was to end the "conflicting messages to young people about the appropriateness and safety of drug taking" by banning bongs and other drug paraphernalia.

"It's a joke," says the distributor. "Jenny Shipley forced this law through even though she was told at the time not to because it was full of holes. Just because she banned the sale of bongs it didn't mean that people were going to give up smoking dope. They are just going to smoke it as a joint, which is more damaging to their health."

But the Act is being flouted. Cannabis pipes are still sold openly, ostensibly as tobacco pipes, and glass bongs are being sold as "vases." Some retailers cheekily put flowers into their display models to make the point.

Harding at NORML, who lobbied strongly against this Act, says he continues to monitor its enforcement and he knows of only one successful prosecution to date. This occurred in Taihape last year.

"There is another one on the go, but I think the guy's got speed in his background and the cops are just hammering him with this to shake him on the other thing."

Anderton acknowledges this law is not being enforced rigorously but he does not favour repealing it.

"I can't say that every single person who ever did anything on the margins of this area should be lined up and prosecuted, but by and large, the police know what the laws are and, if people want to circumvent them on the periphery, then sometimes they are going to get away with it. You are always going to get people who are going to push the law on its margins."

However, one area where most parties to the drug debate seem to share concern is over increasing use of crystalline or "pure" methamphetamine, often known as "P." This form of speed can be smoked or injected, and is said to be much more addictive than the usual powdered form, which is taken like snuff.

"The biggest problem the cops have got at the moment is this 'pure.' It's an absolute major," says the distributor. "We don't sell P pipes or wholesale them. I know too many people who have lost everything because of this shit. It's one thing you don't do."

Anderton agrees that methamphetamine use has reached "epidemic" proportions. He says it is likely it will soon be rescheduled from a class B to a class A drug, which will result in higher penalties for possession or supply.