DOSE:	1 tablet	oral	BZP
	4 joints/cigs	smoked	Products - Spice-Like Smoking Blends
	100 mg	oral	Diphenhydramine
	100 mg	oral	Diphenhydramine

BODY WEIGHT:

89 kg

This is a report on the last days of legal BZP in Britain: although the substance has not been banned, the Government has decreed it to be a medicine (despite the lack of any medical use in humans), and is allowing retailers to sell out their current stock, at which point, non-prescription supply will become a criminal offence. Subject is 31 years old, 6 foot tall, very slightly overweight, and a habitual smoker of weed and camels. Experienced with pretty much all the standard chems, outside of RC's and dissociatives - speed, coke, shrooms, LSD, Ecstasy, MDA, heroin, GHB, pharmaceutical ups, downs, and painkillers. Use of anything harder than weed has been very occasional for the past three years or so.

Having just come back to London from the US, subject travelled to a coastal resort town, infamous for its nightlife, drugs, and amusing pseudo-hippy population. There's currently a massive weed drought across much of the UK, (said to be the result of plants withering in summer heat, combined with a Police crackdown on growing operations), hence subject decided to stop by a local head shop in search of an alternative. The friendly counterman provided a free sample of 'spice blend', an appetising mix of scullcap, lotus flowers, dagga and a few other actives, flavoured with marshmellow and vanilla. Effects were quite impressive, for a legal smoke: mildly sedating, no psychedelic edge, but with weed impossible to come by, it was a handy stopgap. Subject smoked his freebie in the street, and then went back for more.

That's where things went wrong.

Above the counter was an assortment of BZP pills, which subject had tried - with unpleasant results - a year or so before, in the form of a brand known as 'P.E.P Pills.' However, this place stocked the 'London Underground' range - Boltz, Jax, (both BZP) and Smileys (BZP/TFMPP), which have received some positive coverage on UK drug sites. Knowing they would soon be illegal, subject gave into temptation and purchased two tabs of 'Jax.'' Ingredients listed: Amino Acid blend, Vitamin B Complex, Magnesium Sterate, Calcium Phosphate, Piperine, Piperizine. Thankfully, the manufacturers were at least responsible enough to include this warning on the packaging: 'Jax are up to five times stronger than any other dance pills and are designed as a single pill per dose product. Under no circumstances should anyone for any reason double-drop this product.'

No shit.

Though subject has calmed down a good deal in recent years, he's never been the sort who could have drugs lying around without taking them. On a bored weekday afternoon, (starting a new job next month: time to kill till then, no money to travel: a dangerous situation), knowing that he would not be seeing his girlfriend that night or otherwise needing to stay sober, subject made a VERY BAD decision to sample a pill while hungover from 2-3 bottles of wine the night before. Years ago, see, subject would occasionally indulge in a dose of speed while killing time with domestic chores or academic work, and BZP being somewhat speedy, he figured what the hell...

Ingested on a stomach that contained a home-made cheeseburger, sauteed mushrooms, and a few 'hair of the dog' glasses of cheap merlot, the BZP took an hour to have any noticeable effect. This came in the form of an elevated heart rate, thoughts flashing by at great speed, and a persistent erection that was only disposed of by watching coverage of the UK Conservative Party's national conference. (Formerly led by Margaret Thatcher, the Conservatives, or 'Tories', are not what you'd call a sexy bunch, though they seem to do a lot of bed-hopping. Weird.) About ninety minutes after ingestion, subject walked down the street to use the tumble dryers at a launderette: and on the way, began to regret swallowing the pill. It was coming on with force now: some tingly sensations slightly reminiscent of the bodily feel of MDMA - at a very low dose - but with an unpleasant, bad-speed edge and a glassy disconnectedness that made the street seem distant and unreal. Subject was compelled to walk carefully, as his feet felt far away, and he suspected he was growing uncoordinated.

On arrival at the laundry, he began to pour with sweat: which looked a little strange to others in the place, as it was a wet, windy, typical London Autumn day. He walked down the street, to smoke a cigarette while his clothes dried, but found it tasted sickly. Nausea was becoming a substantial presence: unwilling to throw up in the street, he paced for a while, went back and retrieved his still-wet clothes, before heading home as quickly as possible. Repeated vomiting of the coffee used to wash the pill down followed, along with a general sense of toxicity and continuous sweating (subject lost five pounds over all.) This part of the experience was not unlike an intense come-down from dirty speed: without getting high in the first place. For four hours, subject lay on his futon with a laptop, drinking water and surfing drug sites to ascertain if there had been any serious allergic reactions to BZP: a quick perusal of this and other websites suggested that there was no reason to panic, just an unpleasant few hours ahead.

Eventually, effects diminished, though a flu-like feeling remained, along with general 'stimulated lethargy' and slight confusion (TV was hard to follow, conversation with a few friends who called something of an effort.) Having no weed or real downers, subject then consumed two over-the-counter sleeping pills (one dose), containing diphenhydramine. These seemed to reduce the rushes further, and the cocktail created some almost-pleasant sensations: shadowy, calm rushes and slight visual distortions. An hour or so later, a further two sleeping pills were consumed, and subject was back to slightly-trippy baseline, feeling like a total idiot for wasting the day without even getting high.

Having dropped in early afternoon, by 2am it was possible to get some sleep: subject had at least refrained from drinking any alcohol after consuming the BZP, and the hangover was minimal.

On balance, subject agrees with earlier negative reports on piperazines: not a substitute for speed or E, not fit for human consumption, and given the frequent occurence of nausea and a full-body sense of being poisoned, in no way safer than coke or speed. These things are toxic, and guaranteed to ruin a night out: the experience would have been yet more unpleasant, had I not been able to simply collapse in bed and wait it out. A total waste of time, and Money - to be avoided. They're only big in NZ because X is so expensive over there. In future, I'll limit my consumption of stimulants to a very occasional dose of MDMA with old friends: where piperazines are concerned, I'd say avoid them like the plague. If you are fool enough to swallow them, expect a major comedown with no high, and BE CAREFUL ABOUT DOSAGE. I strongly suspect that if I'd taken the second pill, I would have needed medical attention. I had the sense, at least, to dump it in the toilet: this shit belongs in the sewers, not any even vaguely self-respecting bloodstream. There's no such thing as legal X, and the only legal speed comes in prescription form. BZP's unfit for man AND beast.

Be safe!

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 56454
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 15, 2008	Views: 12,798
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