Binky
07-19-2008, 02:14 PM
DON'T CHARGE BY HINDSIGHT
Until a couple of weeks ago, the stimulant benzylpiperazine ( BZP ) seems to have scarcely been on the radar of Canadian authorities. After the death earlier this month of a 55-year-old Toronto man who may have ingested the substance in a product called Pure Rush, government and police are now paying attention. But rather than simply looking forward to prevent any future misuse, they appear overzealous to make up for lost time.
The dangers of BZP are open to dispute. Although less risky than party drugs such as ecstasy, for which it is marketed as a "natural" alternative, it can cause an array of side effects - among them nausea, changes in body temperature and insomnia. It has been linked to at least two fatalities, neither of them in this country, but in those instances it was mixed with illegal narcotics; there was no evidence of its being the sole cause of death.
Several other countries, including the United States and Australia, have seen fit to ban BZP outright. While that may prove further than Canada needs to go, it is reasonable and appropriate that Health Canada is now considering its options. If it does not place BZP on the list of controlled substances, as it is reportedly considering, it should provide regulation that is now lacking - at the very least ensuring that products containing it are affixed with warning labels and placing conditions on its sale.
Much less reasonable are attempts to retroactively apply a standard that does not yet exist. On Monday, Toronto police suggested that distributors of BZP-laced pills may face criminal charges. "We are in consultation with the federal Department of Justice and Health Canada, and we believe there is an offence under the Food and Drug Act," Detective John Margetson said, referring to a ban on the sale of substances that are purportedly safe and natural but are in fact harmful.
If so, that would be a dubious manner of imposing justice. It is not yet known if BZP played a role in the man's death, and the extent to which it did may not be clear even after toxicology reports have been completed. Regardless, BZP was a legal substance at the time he obtained it. And although Health Canada has now requested that the distributor Purepillz cease selling products containing it, no such edict seems to have gone out before the death occurred.
Since BZP has been used recreationally for more than a decade, it should perhaps have come under scrutiny sooner. But that was not the mistake of its distributors, and they should not be punished for it.
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
:confused: Never heard of that before!
Until a couple of weeks ago, the stimulant benzylpiperazine ( BZP ) seems to have scarcely been on the radar of Canadian authorities. After the death earlier this month of a 55-year-old Toronto man who may have ingested the substance in a product called Pure Rush, government and police are now paying attention. But rather than simply looking forward to prevent any future misuse, they appear overzealous to make up for lost time.
The dangers of BZP are open to dispute. Although less risky than party drugs such as ecstasy, for which it is marketed as a "natural" alternative, it can cause an array of side effects - among them nausea, changes in body temperature and insomnia. It has been linked to at least two fatalities, neither of them in this country, but in those instances it was mixed with illegal narcotics; there was no evidence of its being the sole cause of death.
Several other countries, including the United States and Australia, have seen fit to ban BZP outright. While that may prove further than Canada needs to go, it is reasonable and appropriate that Health Canada is now considering its options. If it does not place BZP on the list of controlled substances, as it is reportedly considering, it should provide regulation that is now lacking - at the very least ensuring that products containing it are affixed with warning labels and placing conditions on its sale.
Much less reasonable are attempts to retroactively apply a standard that does not yet exist. On Monday, Toronto police suggested that distributors of BZP-laced pills may face criminal charges. "We are in consultation with the federal Department of Justice and Health Canada, and we believe there is an offence under the Food and Drug Act," Detective John Margetson said, referring to a ban on the sale of substances that are purportedly safe and natural but are in fact harmful.
If so, that would be a dubious manner of imposing justice. It is not yet known if BZP played a role in the man's death, and the extent to which it did may not be clear even after toxicology reports have been completed. Regardless, BZP was a legal substance at the time he obtained it. And although Health Canada has now requested that the distributor Purepillz cease selling products containing it, no such edict seems to have gone out before the death occurred.
Since BZP has been used recreationally for more than a decade, it should perhaps have come under scrutiny sooner. But that was not the mistake of its distributors, and they should not be punished for it.
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
:confused: Never heard of that before!