Pills, thrills and bellyaches: The effects of criminalising a ‘legal high’ in aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

© 2015 The Editors, New Zealand Sociology. Commonly referred to as ‘legal highs’, new psychoactive substances (NPS) are synthetic or naturally occurring substances that mimic the effects of illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, and ecstasy. Through presenting the results of a cohort study with BZP-party pill users in Aotearoa New Zealand, this article considers the evidence for any 'displacement effect' caused by the criminalisation of the drug in 2008. The findings demonstrate that prohibition was only successful insofar as users ceased taking the banned NPS. In contrast to previous research, we found a strong displacement effect following criminalisation with half of the sample increasing their use of other illegal drugs and, for a third, their use of alcohol.