For more information on BZP see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzylpiperazine

BZP was made a controlled substance in New Zealand on the 1st April 2008 and it’s therefore a criminal offence to possess. Many people were panic buying up to the ban. It’s rather silly that these people are officially meant to flush them down the toilet after the deadline and obviously won’t. It’s already a controlled substance in the USA, Australia, Japan, South Africa and most European Countries.

BZP is still legal at the time of writing in the UK, but it unlikely to be for much longer. You can still possess and buy it as “plant food” from off shore companies, BUT on the 4th March 2008 the European Union officially recommended that all European States take measures make the drug a controlled substance with criminal penalties enforced. This action is legally binding throughout all European States including the UK who have 12 months to implement the ban from this date. Despite inevitable protests, it’s now virtually certain that BZP will be totally illegal in the UK and all of Europe by 2009. During the run up to the ban, people will inevitably start panic buying. Large buyers will probably include criminals who will sell them for a vast profit on the black market after the total ban if enforced.

These bans are despite no-one officially dying directly from taking BZP on it’s own in the entire world, although there have been a number of fatal accidents which involved people under the influence. It’s interesting to note that many more accidents are caused by alcohol abuse. Apparently 1 person has died taking BZP and MDMA (Ecstasy) together. One wouldn’t have thought this would have been relevant as people have died from taking MDMA alone.

In my opinion the BZP ban will increase illegal MDMA (Ecstasy) use which is more dangerous. This helps organised crime. BZP will go underground and criminals will make even more money. It’s interesting to note that already some batches of street pills seized by police, sold as Ecstasy have been found to contain BZP as the active ingredient. The quality of illegal street BZP pills will be as questionable as MDMA, they may be cut with any number of dangerous substances. I really think they should have regulated BZP properly instead of banning it all together.

Many legal high manufacturers are now re-engineering their products using alternative ingredients to BZP in an attempt to achieve the same effects. Some of the ingredients are arguably far more dangerous than BZP and less tested. They are they’re constantly looking for new and better ways to achieve similar effects to MDMA (Ecstasy) while always staying 1 step ahead of the law.