Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jul 2008
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Kate Hammer

AFTER CLUB-GOER'S DEATH, HEALTH CANADA LOOKS AT BZP

Beneath glass counters in stores throughout Toronto and online, 
"natural" drugs promising legal ecstasy-simulating highs like the one 
that killed a 55-year-old man last week are openly sold.

Their packaging is colourful and welcoming, depicting green 
butterflies, smiling dancers and bright neon letters promising a 
safer, legal "strong euphoric effect."

But some contain benzylpiperazine, or BZP, a stimulant linked to 
several fatal drug interactions in Europe that has crossed the 
Atlantic and landed in Canadian stores.

The man who collapsed at the Guvernment, a downtown club, and later 
died, had ingested a product advertised as natural ecstasy called 
Pure Rush. Police did not release his name.

Two capsules of Pure Rush can be purchased online for $20 at 
PurePillz.ca. The site also sells three other types of pills that 
contain BZP and lists dozens of locations across the country where 
the pills are sold. The listed ingredients for Pure Rush include an 
amino acid blend, B vitamins and 105 milligrams of BZP.

Although BZP has been banned in the United States and was declared a 
controlled substance by the European Union in March, it can be sold 
legally in Canada. According to a spokesperson for Health Canada, 
however, no companies are authorized to sell BZP in Canada, and the 
agency made a request to PurePillz on July 2, shortly after the man's 
death, to stop distribution of BZP-laced products. "The matter 
remains under review," the spokesperson said.

The Toronto Raver Info Project, a harm-reduction and drug-education 
program, received a report several months ago of BZP sold in a shop 
in North York as "herbal ecstasy" that induced an "uncomfortable" 
physical reaction.

According to Rob Connell, TRIP's project co-ordinator, herbal ecstasy 
became popular in the 1990s as part of the "smart drug" fad that 
embraced legal herbal alternatives to popular illicit substances. 
Herbal ecstasy contained ephedrine until the latter - a derivative of 
a Chinese herb - was found to cause cardiac damage and was banned for 
use as a diet drug or stimulant.

The label "herbal" or "natural" may give consumers a misplaced sense 
of security, according to Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill 
University's Office for Science and Society in Montreal. "Just 
because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe, but that's what people 
think," he said.

Some products sold as herbal ecstasy contain only caffeine, black 
pepper extract and B vitamins that would only be harmful in the case 
of a severe allergic reaction to pepper, he said.

Others contain a psychoactive herb called Salvia divinorum, which was 
also found for sale in stores in Toronto. Erowid, an extensive online 
database for recreational drug users, calls the herb a potent 
"divinatory psychedelic" whose "effects are considered unpleasant by 
many people."

All these substances can be sold legally in Canada.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart