Hon Jim Anderton
Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Forestry
Associate Minister of Health,
Associate Minister for Tertiary Education,
Minister Responsible for Public Trust
Progressive Leader
26th November 2006 Press release
Reassessment of BZP party pills on track
Jim Anderton, Associate Minister of Health advised today that he is expecting the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs
(EACD) report on its reassessment of BZP party pills in early December.
“The next EACD meeting is on 29 November and I have been advised by the Chair that the committee should be in a position
to give advice and make recommendations to me in the first week of December.
“The committee will be considering the preliminary findings from the final research projects on BZP commissioned by the
government, the results of the project already announced and all other information gathered on BZP party pills from
various sources at the 29 November meeting.
“Once I receive that report from the EACD I will consider the advice given, any recommendations made, the evidence they
are based on and make my decision on how to proceed without undue delay.
“I expect to be able to announce this decision mid December.” Jim Anderton said.
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Background
The EACD is a statutory committee of experts established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, which is tasked with
advising the Minister on drug classification matters under that Act. Under the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 the
committee was given the function to carry out evaluations of substances to assess whether they should be restricted
substances and if so, make recommendations to the Minster responsible for drug policy on the appropriate restrictions or
requirements.
The Minister under both Acts is required to consider the advice of the EACD as well as having regard to matters listed
in the legislation such as prevalence, levels of consumption, risks to public health, international classification and
other matters before making a recommendation to the Governor-General that an Order in Council is made to classify or
reclassify or restrict a substance under these Acts.
BZP is already a restricted substance under the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005 therefore the EACD will be advising
on appropriate further restrictions (if any) or whether BZP should be classified (prohibited) under the Misuse of Drugs
Act 1975.
Further restrictions are put in place by regulation, and there is provision for making regulations around restricted
substances in the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Act 2005. Classification occurs via an Order in Council process, an outline
of this process can be found at www.ndp.govt.nz
ENDS