Letter to the Editor

Tanczos in firing line

Cannabis law reform campaigner and youth role model Nandor Tanczos is once again under attack, this time for being part-owner and director of a shop that sells capsules containing the legal stimulants BZP and TFMPP. Supposedly, the effects of these stimulants are similar to having a decent cup of coffee.

You have reported that the United States Drug Enforcement Agency recently outlawed these chemicals "to avoid an imminent hazard to public health". However, there is no credible evidence that these substances are harmful, despite what the DEA may have said. Instead, the DEA outlawed these chemicals for the usual reason — because it discovered that people are using them to get high.

Rather than averting an imminent hazard to public health, the DEA is creating one. Seemingly, the DEA is not concerned with harm minimisation. When drugs are sold legally, both their identity and quantity is clearly stated on the packaging. When drugs are sold illegally, their quantity and, often, even their identity, is anyone's guess.

Rather than follow the puritanical lead of the DEA, our Department of Health should immediately investigate the large number of known stimulant drugs, both legal and illegal, with a view to making the safest of them available for use by the adult general public. And please — much as I enjoy a double espresso — let's have something which provides a better buzz than just a decent coffee.

RICHARD GOODE
Dunedin