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. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart