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PARTY TIME: Anjana Ramji of Hamilton's Victoria Mini Supermarket with an array of party pills on sale. BRUCE MERCER / Waikato Times

Pill poppers play with fire

One person a week is being treated in Waikato Hospital's emergency department after taking legal herbal party pills.

The pills, marketed under names such as Rapture, Charge, Jax, Bolts and Euphoria, are on sale to people over the age of 18 and readily available in most Hamilton liquor stores, bars and dairies. They are marketed as a healthy, herbal alternative to amphetamine.

Emergency doctor Tonia Nicholson said the problem had increased dramatically with at least eight pill users being treated in the emergency department in the past two months suffering heart palpitations, delirium, agitation, dehydration and confusion.

Dr Nicholson said one of the problems of taking the pills was the lengthy recovery time. Once the euphoric feeling had worn off, insomnia and extreme hangover symptoms could last for up to two days.

One of the main ingredients, benzylpiperazine or BZP – derived from the pepper plant – broke down in the body genetically, meaning the severity of its effects depended on an individual's metabolism.

The unpredictability made it dangerous, Dr Nicholson said. "The same dose can have no effect on one person but make another feel very ill."

Ingredients such as BZP triggered reactions in the brain similar to methamphetamine.

Dr Nicholson conducted a survey of 1000 emergency department patients at Waikato Hospital and found 126 had used party pills, and many were regular users.

Stockists of the pills appear to bear out her findings.

Hillcrest Super Liquor store manager Jason Walker said sales were going "through the roof". Students were his biggest customers and he estimated turnover from the pills alone at more than $10,000 a month. He said they discouraged people from using P.

Mr Walker said he had taken the pills himself and each one produced a different effect.

"Rapture makes you feel all floaty but the Charge is just full-on energy," he said.

Vina Ramji of Hamilton's Victoria Mini Supermarket said the pills were a better option for young people than illegal stimulants and the shop stocked a wide variety. Pill sales generated as much revenue as alcohol.

And one city bar manager is blaming a decrease in drink sales on pill-taking customers.

Joanna Rolfe, of Revert, said the bar stocked the drugs but could not keep up with new ones being released.

People coming into the bar after having taken the pills drank water all night, which she said "disturbed the atmosphere".

"It's hugely frustrating," she said. "It's in Hamilton a lot more than it was."