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HIGH SOCIETY: The arrival of over-the-counter herbal drugs in Invercargill has young people buzzing. Reporter Karen Potter investigates the new craze to hit town. JILL ROBB/The Southland Times

Getting into herbal highs

Apart from the latest Eminem or Foo Fighters compact discs on offer in this shop, there is another new trend the young of Invercargill can buy into.

For $40 teens can have four capsules of Exodus or Frenzy. The designer drugs are being touted as the healthy herbal alternative to ecstasy and speed.

"Exodus – The Journey," the herbal ecstasy selling spiel says. The semi-synthetic pill is "designed for long time ecstasy users looking for an escape."

Frenzy, the alternative to speed, is hailed as a drug only to be used "by healthy adults with a high tolerance to methamphetamine (speed)." Yet these drugs are legally available to anyone.

Play-it-Again Records owner Kenny Frisby says he has been selling the herbal highs at his stores in Invercargill and Queenstown for a year, and the market is increasing.

"It's just continuously growing as word of mouth spreads." He has tried the drugs and says they work. He likens the frenzy to speed.

"It's almost identical. Although I haven't taken the real thing," he adds.

Frisby describes Exodus as not being quite the same as ecstasy but with similarities.

"I'd most liken it to taking speed with a little bit of acid," he said.

People are choosing the alternative to the real versions because "there's no risk of getting busted," Frisby said.

"And the fact that you know exactly what you're getting. It's exactly the same every time."

The shop owner says he will not sell the drugs to anyone under the age of 18. But nobody had been asked for identification.

"If we started getting people in school uniform we wouldn't be selling it to them."

The biggest buyers of the drugs in his shop are adults in their mid to late 20s. The only complaints they have had about the drugs is when they run out of stores.

"We just make sure we've got plenty in stock now." Exodus and Frenzy were developed by Kiwi Matt Bowden. Bowden's cousin Dai Bowden's life ended after taking ecstasy. The third New Zealander to die after taking the drug.

"I'm just a family member of someone who died," Mr Bowden said.

Owner of Stargate International, Mr Bowden works with a neuro pharmacologist to develop the supplements sold in more than 50 shops in New Zealand.

The reason behind the drug was to provide a healthy herbal supplement for habitual drug users.

"I was in Australia and I could see the problem with methamphetamines (speed) there and over here was going to get worse."

He believed that poor quality speed on the market was causing unnecessary death and suffering so decided to see if a more wholesome alternative could be developed.

Mr Bowden points out the herbal supplements are intended only for users of illicit drugs.

"They're not intended for the average Joe," he said.

Mr Bowden is in communication with the Ministry of Health and medical professionals. In the two years since the product has been on the market, there had been no recorded instances of people admitted at hospitals in New Zealand as a result of the supplement being taken, he said.

The contents of the drugs include Benzylpiperazine (BZP) and Trifloromethlphenylpiperazine (TFMPP).

The United States Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) notes both these piperazines are drugs of concern.

In its website the DEA says piperazines produce stimulant and hallucinogenic effects similar to ecstasy.

"There is a wide range between effective therapeutic and overtly toxic doses of piperazine," the site says.

"Piperazines produce increases in heart rate, blood pressure, locomotor activity and body temperature. At high doses the piperazines produce hallucinations, convulsions and respiratory depression."

The DEA has scheduled to put a temporary ban on BZP and TFMPP, "necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety."

Minister of Health public health programmes manager Graeme Gillespie said no such steps were being taken in New Zealand although the party pills were being monitored here.

"Obviously our own national surveillance systems are around identifying substances that are causing harmful effects." Investigations into the drug, so far, had found no cause for alarm, he said.

"The information that we've got doesn't alert us to move towards any restrictions at this time."

"There are a whole lot of chemicals that cause the body to react in different ways and we know with the evidence we have on it, it's possibly no different than some of the mild stimulants around – caffeine and things of that nature. We are aware of no adverse effects."

The only record of a death was in Switzerland in 2000 where a woman combined BZP with ecstasy.

Seven hours after the consumption of BZP she took the ecstasy tablet. Within three hours she experienced signs of sleepiness and a slow heart rate. Her death was because of low sodium levels, excess water consumption and brain swelling.

Police in New Zealand are also waiting – playing watchdog – waiting to see what happens.

Detective John Kean, of Invercargill, said not a lot was known about the effects of the drug.

However, the national control agency for drug intelligence was aware of it, he said.

But Life Trust Education Trust founder and director Trevor Grice is more hesitant about the drugs.

He believes, as with all medication, people can react to it differently – especially the young.

"They have faster absorption rates," Mr Grice said.

"That is why they get prescribed half the dosage (of medication) when they are young."

Mr Grice said the acceptance of such drugs could be giving the wrong message to youth.

"Even though it might be a mild form of stimulation it's very big step for young people.

"They need to be protected from that."

He believes if a child starts on a journey of experimentation of legal drugs it could eventually lead to harder and faster drugs later in life. He is also saying it's giving youth the message of saying it's okay to take something if you're feeling down.