Your absolutely right that there should be some minimum labelling standards in there - we deserve to know precisely what is in our products.
But to say that the NZ government has essentially let down its people by failing to schedule the drug is one of the strangest comments I have ever heard on Bluelight...The entire idea is to get away from prohibition here. Removing the stigma surrounding drug use, educating the population and spending the millions of dollars in removing the root cause of drug abuse rather than punishing those who turn to drugs is the way of the future for drug enforcement. Prohibition is dated and a failure of epic proportions.
The fact is, the NZ government deciding to NOT schedule BZP and TFMPP is one of the braver decisions I've seen been made. It is the first step in the right direction. I have few sources to shunt on to ya's atm, but the scientific verdict has been that these pills do not have any known long term side effects. Obviously the ultra long term effects (10+ years) have not been discovered yet, but at this stage there is not evidence to suggest it will be anything nasty.
The reason why our Minister of Health primarily cited the substances being acceptable as legal (hes a very conservative old bastard) was specifically because of the nasty short term side effects. If something like P is taken in large quantity's the more you smoke, the better you feel. If something like BZP is taken in very large quantity's it can all start to feel a bit too much in terms of your heart rate and body stimulation (I get a WAY better hit off hummer than I do off ice, and NO I hadn't been smoking rubbish). Anything with tfmpp can lead to severe temperature fluctuations, sweating, nausea, vomitting, mindfuck and generally quite vivid hallucinations. The idea is that these negative side effects reduce the peak of the pleasure curve - people are more likely to stop at a certain dose rather than go over the top. Furthermore BZP and TFMPP's addiction potential is very low. And yes...the comedown, particularly of Kandi, is absolutely fucking atrocious.
The fact that people liek you (Smokin' Joe) are consuming these things as though their not drugs IS a failure of the government. I mean...anybody with any remote level of intelligence is going to realise that these ARE drugs...the warning labels are NOT kidding...and there is potential for damage if you are excessive...just like with anything else...Drink 5 litres of water an hour and see what happens...
No, the reason the government has let us down somewhat is by not taking into account the fact that people ARE stupid. No offence Joe but you are one dumb motherfucker trusting the government to make decisions for you...You obviously don't trust them to decide what should be illegal, so why should you let them decide what is legal too...Do your own research next time, find out the dangers, the effects, and whats generally going to be going on, before you decide to essentially self prescribe some fun.
Sadly most people won't do this. We need a ban on advertisting. We need a much lower profile to the drug. We need absolute MINIMUM standards in place for the point of sale. No WAY at dairy's. Take them out of sex shops if you ask me too. We need special Schedule D empowered shops ie Cosmic Corner, with minimum labelling standards, R18 limits, and minimum levels of information that MUST be passed along every single time they are purchased. Their only job will be to sell drugs. Does your chemist sell you drugs without explaining the side effects, the dosage, and what happens when you take it? No fuckign way, that would be a breach of his legal duty as a RMP, so why the fuck should these pills escape these standards?
Bring it up to scratch, get some consistency, and realise that people are fuckwits, and if they are not forcibly educated as to the consequences, prohibition alternatives simply will not work. 155 hospitalised at the BDO (I have heard) from herbal overdoses even with massive media coverage over the expected massive amounts of 'herbal' drug problems...go figure...
