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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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Put age limit on pepper pills says Tanczos
The New Zealand Herald
Party drugs derived from pepper plants should have an age limit but need not be outlawed, Green MP Nandor Tanczos says.
The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs, an independent body of police, health, customs and drugs experts, is meeting today to discuss making herbal drugs illegal.
The pepper plant-derived drugs contain benzylpiperazine (BZP) and trifluromethylphenlypiperazine (TFMPP) and are marketed under the names Charge, Rapture, Blast and Exodus. [Link]
Mr Tanczos said there were no grounds to make the drugs illegal, but the Misuse of Drugs Act should be changed so the drugs were restricted but not criminalised.
The drugs did not cause harm but should not be sold to children.
He said drugs could be banned only if proved to be harmful.
But the advisory committee could not recommend lesser restrictions, "such as on age and where you can buy them. That's why the law needs to change."
Side effects of the pills, which are described as the legal alternative to Ecstasy or P, include heart palpitations and increased blood pressure and body temperature.
At high doses, the piperazines produce hallucinations, convulsions and respiratory depression.
Possession of the chemicals is illegal in the United States and some parts of Australia but there are no restrictions in New Zealand.
2 3 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 4 Legal party drugs sold without labels dangerous: watchdog
The New Zealand Herald
A turf war in the world of legal drugs has erupted and health and industry experts warn young party-goers are getting caught in the crossfire - and ending up in hospital.
The Drug Foundation said yesterday competition between Christchurch manufacturers had resulted in party pills or herbal highs being sold by shops in unmarked clear plastic bags.
It was a dangerous practice, foundation executive director Ross Bell said. "People might not know what they are taking and might not know the recommended dose."
Mr Bell said there was "hysteria" from some Christchurch doctors who said young people were ending up in hospital emergency departments after becoming ill on the pills.
The predominant ingredient in party pills is benzylpiperazine (BZP), which is derived from the pepper plant and legal in New Zealand.
BZP was also an ingredient used in farm animal worming tablets, Mr Bell said.
People could take BZP safety by ensuring they took the recommended dose, did not drink alcohol with them and drank plenty of water, he said.
The pills were regulated under the dietary supplements regulations, which required them to be labelled with ingredients and doses.
Industry group Social Tonic Association of New Zealand spokesman Matt Bowden said Auckland Hospital saw about one BZP user a month, who was usually sent home without requiring treatment but there had been a recent cluster of hospital admissions in Christchurch.
"All of a sudden we see Christchurch Hospital saying they are seeing six people a week," he said.
"It would appear that a lot more active material is being put in each capsule there, so people who are expecting to take normal dose pills are taking something which is a much higher dose."
The majority of manufacturers took a responsible approach to the marketing of the products, he said.
"People should pay attention to the labelling and see how much BZP is in the product. If there's no labelling, they should avoid it."
Stanz would like to see public health officials do something to enforce the labelling of party pills, Mr Bowden said.
However, Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Alistair Humphrey said it was not up to the medical officer of health or the city council to enforce the labelling of the pills.
"There is no legislation; it is not a controlled medicine."
Party pills contain benzylpiperazine (BZP), derived from the pepper plant. [Volgens Wikipedia is dat niet waar - red.] It is legal in New Zealand.
An estimated 5 million have been sold in NZ since 2000.
An official advisory panel wants the marketing and sale of party pills restricted to people over 18 years.
1 7 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 No plans to ban herbal pills
03 November 2005 Despite calls by medical professionals to ban herbal party pills because of increasing evidence of health risks, there is no legislation on the parliamentary agenda to ban the legal drugs. In a yet-to-be published study, lead researcher and emergency medicine specialist Paul Gee tallied up 61 patients who sought treatment at Christchurch Hospital's emergency department for severe reactions to party pills on 80 occasions over five months this year. Numbers had not decreased since a law change in June restricting sales to those over 18, Dr Gee said. A number had suffered seizures after taking the "recommended" dose of just two, he said. Of those seeking medical treatment, 15 patients suffered "toxic seizures", falling unconscious, shaking uncontrollably, and in some cases had lost control of their bladder or bowels. Such seizures could last from a few seconds to more than an hour, Dr Gee said. Many took the pills thinking they were safe because they were legal and described as herbal, he said. But Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said the Government was working "darn hard" on looking at the effects of herbal pills on users, but stopped short of saying a ban of the drugs would be recommended. Mr Anderton said he had received advice from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) that the herbal pills were not dangerous enough to ban. "As far as I know BZP (benzylpiperazine – a chemical found in party pills) has not yet killed anybody." Mr Anderton said the pills could make some people very ill, and occasionally they might come close to dying, "but no one yet has died as far as I know in New Zealand". "I have taken advice from the EACD on this matter, and the advice was `we think there are reasons why this should be looked at more closely. Around the world we can only find one example of anyone who's died from this drug, but even then there are questions around it'." Mr Anderton said two government-funded research programmes looking at the effects of BZP were running at the moment. Mr Anderton said he would put measures forward to ban BZP if research found it was an inherently dangerous substance. "I need the evidence, I haven't got it yet." National's health spokesman Tony Ryall said his party backed more research on the pills but he also would not be calling for a total ban just yet. National was in favour of close monitoring on the selling of the pills and felt regulation of access was required. "But in terms of banning access of these party pills, we're not in a position to state what our position on that is." The New Zealand Drug Foundation warned against banning BZP, saying such a move would be against the best evidence available. "It is absolutely imperative that we make decisions on the legal status of drugs based on the evidence, and the evidence alone," foundation executive director Ross Bell said. By law, the pills could not be sold to anybody under 18 and the pills needed to carry appropriate health warnings. "By banning party pills, there is a real risk that these restrictions will disappear. The regulations provide useful controls that we would otherwise not have if the substances were illegal," he said. "It would be interesting to know how many people are presenting to Dr Gee's emergency department with alcohol-related problems and whether he thinks alcohol should be banned accordingly." 1 7 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 Hearing for bodybuilder over BZP use
16 Nov 2005
A New Zealand bodybuilder will front up at a Sports Disputes Tribunal hearing next week after testing positive for Benzylpiperazine, commonly referred to as BZP. The anti-doping violation was discovered during an in-competition testing by the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency at an event earlier this year. It was revealed in July that the bodybuilder had become the first New Zealand athlete to test positive to BZP which is the active ingredient in "herbal highs", sold legally under names such as "Blast", "Frenzy" and "Rapture". Athletes are prohibited from using BZP, which mimics the effects of illegal drugs amphetamine and ecstasy, because it has performance-enhancing potential. The hearing will be held in Auckland on November 23. 1 7 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5 Drug ban fear
17nov05 AUSTRALIA'S top weightlifter Sergo Chakhoyan may be banned from the sport for life after testing positive to a banned stimulant. The news is a major blow to Australia's Commonwealth Games hopes, where he was considered a near-certainty to win gold in the 85kg division. Chakhoyan tested positive to benzylpiperazine from a sample taken at last month's Commonwealth, Oceania and South Pacific Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne. He has requested the B-sample also be tested to confirm the presence of the drug. If the positive result is confirmed, he will receive an automatic life ban, the penalty for a second drug violation. He tested positive to the steroid stanozolol in 2001. Australian Weightlifting Federation's high performance manager Peter Cayley said it was an enormous blow to the team. "From our point of view it's very disappointing, extremely disappointing," he said. 0 7 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Aussie lifters fail drug tests
By Mike Hurst THREE Australian weightlifters - all medal hopes for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games - have failed drug tests. The Daily Telegraph understands the trio - two men and a woman - tested positive to an amphetamine named benzyl piperzine. This is the same drug for which Australia's top-ranked male weightlifter Sergo Chakhoyan, 35, tested positive in an A-sample at the Oceania championships in Melbourne in October. Chakhoyan, a two-time world champion, faces an automatic life ban as a second offender after he failed a test for the steroid, stanozolol, at the 2001 Goodwill Games. The Australian Sports Drug Agency has yet to inform the Australian Weightlifting Federation of the three new cases. However, the Telegraph understands the tests were conducted at the Australian championships in Brisbane in late October. A source familiar with the case said the AWF expected to know full details shortly and that once the trio had been formally identified they would be automatically suspended pending a hearing. The problem for these elite lifters is that if suspended they will miss the Commonwealth Games team selection trials on December 17. Australian Commonwealth Games Association president Sam Coffa said the AWF would not be suspended, saving the ultimate humiliation of having the host team thrown out of the Games weightlifting competition. Under a "three strikes and you're out" anti-doping policy implemented by the International Weightlifting Federation, three positive lifters from the same nation tested in an international competition leads to a 12-month international ban for that national federation and all its competitors. But late yesterday Coffa, the first vice-president on the IWF executive board, said the rumours he had heard pertained to positives involving benzyl piperzine. Coffa said he was distressed about the rumours and was waiting for ASDA to advise him if there was any truth in the matter. "I've heard the same scuttlebutt. I don't know if it's true or not," he said yesterday. 1 7 - 1 2 - 2 0 0 5 Athletes warned over party pills
17 December 2005 Any athlete who dabbles with party pills containing BZP can expect to suffer the same fate as Auckland bodybuilder Tony Ligaliga, says Graeme Steel, the executive director of Drug Free Sport New Zealand.
Ligaliga produced a positive result for BZP after a drug test at the Auckland bodybuilding champions last May, and has been banned for two years. BZP (benzylpiperazine) is commonly found in party pills such as Blast, Charge Frenzy and Rapture. They are regarded as stimulants which are on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada) list of banned substances. Steel said the message to athletes was that they had to be aware of what they were taking. He said he had had considerable contact with Ligaliga over the years. "He has been very good and you wouldn't expect him of all people to make a silly mistake. We felt for him through the whole process," said Steel. Ligaliga was an example of an athlete who had not set out to cheat, but had been caught by the strict rules on drugs in sport. "It is a situation we would rather avoid, but sometimes athletes make mistakes and the penalties are heavy," said Steel. A media release from the Sports Disputes Tribunal of New Zealand which heard Ligaliga's case, said BZP was not specifically named as a prohibited substance on the Wada list, but that it is a stimulant with a chemical structure or similar biological effects to others stimulants on the Wada list. The tribunal said the Wada code provided for a mandatory two-year suspension for a first violation involving substances such as BZP unless the athlete could show it was not their fault. An unnamed witness at the hearing said Ligaliga was constantly educating other bodybuilders about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. The tribunal conceded Ligaliga had not taken the drug for performance-enhancing purposes and had entered the Auckland bodybuilding championships to obtain a clear drug test. But it decided he was careless in taking the substance and there was significant fault in his case. "It is doubly disappointing for a competitor such as Tony who has been a role model in his community and a strong supporter of the testing programme in bodybuilding," said Steel. 1 4 - 0 3 - 2 0 0 6 Party pills can help save lives
Stuff.co.nz
With party pills under renewed scrutiny, including talk of a ban, Matt Bowden argues that they are providing safer, legal alternatives to addictive and harmful illegal drugs. Over the last five to six years about 20 million legal party pills have been sold in New Zealand. This represents 20 million times that mostly young New Zealanders have chosen a safer, legal alternative to dangerous, illegal drugs like P, methamphetamine. We have all seen the tragic costs of the use of illegal and highly addictive drugs like P – untold high profile murders, maimings, robberies, overdoses and suicides. I first created and introduced BZP- based party pills into New Zealand towards the end of the 1990s following the ecstasy-related death of a member of my own family. I was committed to finding a safer, legal alternative to dangerous drugs that kill people, and party pills have been successful in achieving this. There have been no instances in New Zealand of party pills causing any lasting harm, and there have been reports that police officers have linked a declining demand for the drug ecstasy as a result of the pills' increased availability. Although some people may feel uncomfortable about the recent availability of party pills, I believe party pills have saved lives that would otherwise have been lost through the use of drugs like methamphetamine and ecstasy. Party pills can continue to help minimise drug-related harm in, but I also acknowledge that these products need to be better controlled. Last year most of the party-pill industry joined in convincing the Government to begin regulating the industry. Most importantly, an 18-year age limit was introduced, as well as some labelling and marketing restrictions. This was a good start to properly control party pills but, with some simple legislative amendments, they could be much more effectively controlled and, as a result, safer. A lot of the recent concern that has surrounded party pills is well founded. In Christchurch, in particular, one or two rogue operators are producing party pills with excessive levels of BZP of about 500mg a pill. The vast majority of the party-pill industry belongs to the industry association, the Social Tonics Association (Stanz), which has a voluntary code of practice limiting BZP levels to 200mg a pill. We are calling on the Government to finish the job it has started and to introduce a limit on BZP levels per pill of 200mg. This is common-sense policy which would further protect people who choose to use party pills, and remove many of the problems centered on Christchurch. I believe there would be widespread political support for these further regulations and I would like to see the Government take this step urgently. Although we want more controls, it is important to keep BZP and party pills in context. One form of BZP is used in a heart-surgery medicine, and people have been taking piperazines for years. It has been widely used around the world for decades and there has not been a single case of a BZP death anywhere in the world. By any standards, BZP has proved to be a remarkably safe substance, as evidenced by it being legal in most countries. The Government is to be applauded for committing to an evidence-based approach to policy on party pills. As a community we all need to put aside our prejudices (and plenty of hypocrisies) regarding people choosing to take substances that alter the way they feel. Every human culture since the beginning of time has done this, and will inevitably continue to do so. The challenge we all face is to make doing so as safe as we can. Party pills have already demonstrated they can provide a safer alternative to dangerous drugs. Properly controlled through more sensible government policy, party pills can be even safer and can continue to save lives. Matt Bowden represents Stanz, www.stargate.org.nz. |
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