Coroner to decide in party pill case

A coroner will decide whether legal party pills played a role in the death of man in Northland on New Year's Day.
Auckland hairdresser Daniel Knights collapsed and died while partying with friends in the Far North in what could be New Zealand's first fatality involving party pills.
Mr Knights died in an ambulance on the way to Kaitaia Hospital early on New Year's Day after reportedly taking a cocktail of drugs, believed to include ecstasy and party pills which contain BZP.
Police are waiting for toxicology and post mortem examination reports and would not speculate about what caused the 25-year-old's death.
Kaitaia police Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn said it could be weeks before Environmental Science and Research scientists had finished analysing blood samples from Mr Knights.
"It was a cocktail of drugs, one of which was a party pill, that he ingested. It will be quite some time now before the tests are done and then it will be up to the coroner to decide the cause of death," Mr Gunn said.
Mr Knights had been partying with his brother and sister at a hired house in Kaimaumau, north of Kaitaia, in the hours before he died.
The death comes just as Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton has released advice on BZP to warn consumers in a bid to ban the party pills.
The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) has recommended the Government make benzylpiperazine (BZP), phenylpiperazines and related piperazines - common ingredients in party pills - illegal because of the risk of harm.
Mr Anderton said the advice was the first step in the process required of him in terms of his statutory decision-making power.
However, because individuals are currently taking these substances in commonly available so-called party pills, it is important that this advice is available to the public so that everyone is aware of the dangers, he said.
"While there have been no recorded deaths attributed solely to the use of BZP, we know that severe adverse effects from the use of party pills occur unpredictably and that the seizures which have been recorded have the potential to kill," Mr Anderton said.
He said while there is now a body of New Zealand research which shows the risks that BZP poses, there are a number of legal steps he must take before he can make a final decision on whether to recommend that Parliament should ban BZP.
That included seeking further information and advice, consulting fully with other Government agencies, and seeking the views of the wider community as well as those manufacturing and selling products containing BZP.
"I am aiming for this process to be completed by March but until then it is important that the public has good information upon which to base any decision to purchase BZP-based party pills," Mr Anderton said.
In New Zealand, BZP is currently able to be sold to individuals over the age of 18. The recommendation from the EACD is that BZP should be given a similar classification to that of cannabis, making it illegal to sell, buy or possess the drug.