High on pepper

Michael Foreman

Legal recreational drugs based on chemicals found in pepper are challenging government's anti-drug policies as they make fortunes for local manufacturers.

Based on piperazines, a family of chemicals found in pepper, these pills have revolutionised the "legal highs" market because, unlike a lot of products that have preceded them, they actually work.

"They really are in a different ballpark from caffeine and guarana and things like that," says Jonathan Rennie, a volunteer at pro-cannabis lobby group, the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

At least three manufacturers in New Zealand are producing capsules based on the active ingredients benzylpiperazine (BZP), an "upper," and trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), which has hallucinogenic effects.

"[Piperazines] are the same thing that make you feel zinged when you have hot food, only it's quite a lot of that at once," says Rennie. "It's worth pointing out that people who are allergic to capsicums and peppers should steer clear."

Companies such as Auckland-based Stargate International are producing capsules containing BZP only. This is marketed as "Frenzy" an alternative to the illegal drug "speed," while "Exodus" capsules containing a mixture of both chemicals are being touted as a substitute for Ecstasy.

By all accounts these "dance pills," so named because they are predominantly used by club-goers, are selling like the proverbial hot cakes.

NORML Auckland co-ordinator Mike Harding says the pills are proving to be popular with young professionals. Retailing at $40 for four capsules - one or two doses - they are considerably cheaper than illegal drugs such as Ecstasy, costing about $80 a dose.

Harding says he knows of one business selling around $10,000 worth of Frenzy and Exodus capsules a week from two outlets in Auckland and Wellington.

Though NORML's main objective is the liberalisation of cannabis laws, the organisation is benefiting indirectly from the popularity of the dance pills.

Harding says NORML's publication, NORML News, has received donations and advertising revenue from the capsule manufacturers and the retail outlets stocking them.

"Since the advent of dance pills over the last 12 months or so, we have had more money in the organisation than we have ever had," he says.

Neither Harding nor Rennie seems to have any qualms about the safety of the pills.

"At least users know what they are getting. You know what's in them," says Harding. "If you go and buy an 'E' off the street there is no guarantee of what you are going to get."

Rennie says the piperazine capsules have few side effects.

"Some people report a comedown [the drug equivalent of a hangover]. Some people report nausea, but it passes, and that's about it."

Others, including the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), do not share this view.

Last month the DEA temporarily classified both BZP and TFMPP as controlled substances for one year under emergency provisions in US drug laws "to avoid an imminent hazard to public safety."

The DEA says no deaths or overdoses have been attributed to either compound in the US, but BZP was associated with the death of a young woman in Switzerland last year.

According to a report from the University Hospital in Zurich, the woman had taken two BZP capsules followed by one Ecstasy tablet and about 10 litres of water over a 15-hour period. The DEA admits the role of BZP in this case was not known.

According to Rennie the authorities tend to be predisposed against all forms of recreational drugs because of a long-running 'misinformation' and propaganda campaign against cannabis in the 1950s and 1960s.

"A lot of people now in their 50s and running the show grew up with that," he says.

Rennie says there is also a puritanical aspect to drug prohibition, which is revealed by a refusal by the authorities to accept the growing evidence of marijuana's medicinal value in treating a range of conditions from glaucoma to chemotherapy side effects.

"For certain conditions there is no doubt that the shit works - people are helped by it - but the very fact that people might get stoned at the same time, and enjoy their medicine, causes real concern. That's just Joe Puritan talking, I think."

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton says he is opposed to mind-altering or behaviour-altering substances of any description, unless they have proven clinical value.

But he is not ready or able to ban BZP or TFMPP - yet.

Anderton, who took on the drugs brief in late August as part of an agreement with Labour that was supported by United Future, says the Ministry of Health is aware that the dance pills have been classified in the US but are still legally available in New Zealand.

However the ministry is not aware of any evidence to suggest these substances currently pose harmful health consequences.

"That's not to say there may not be any evidence, but they are not aware of any," Anderton told The Independent.

Drugs in New Zealand are controlled mainly by the Misuse of Drugs Act, which classifies various substances according to the harm they cause. Substances may be added or removed or moved within this schedule at any time, but only by following a process set out in the Act.

Anderton says the process starts when substances that might be harmful are brought to the attention of the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD), which then carries out a preliminary assessment according to set criteria.

These criteria include: the specific effects of the drug; the likelihood or evidence of its abuse; whether it is physically or psychologically addictive; its potential to cause death or risks to public health; any possible therapeutic value; and, finally, whether the drug is classified overseas.