Jacqui Dean National Party MP

11 September 2007

Party pill bill good - but two years too late

National Party MP Jacqui Dean has welcomed the introduction to Parliament of the bill banning BZP party pills.

"These pills, and a profound lack of regulation around their sale, have done untold damage to many young people.

"It's impossible to calculate the heartbreak and the harm that Labour could have averted by fast-tracking the research, bringing in an earlier ban, and promoting better enforcement.

"The Minister for Drug Policy, Jim Anderton, has spent the past two years talking tough on BZP, and all the while a legal drug culture has grown in New Zealand, where more and more young people have the expectation that in order to have a good time, they must first take a pill.

"The party pill business has grown to a $35 million-a-year industry. And while the Minister has consulted, the pill popping culture has become firmly established, and the time's been used to come up with BZP replacements.

"National welcomes the introduction of this bill, but cautions the Government against complacency.

"We don't want to see this industry going underground, where backyard manufacturers operate without restrictions, and where the ingredients in pills are totally unregulated. New, untested, alternatives are reportedly already on the horizon.

"Potentially, that puts the public at even greater risk.

"If Mr Anderton thinks he has put this issue to bed once and for all - he should think again."

ENDS

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