BZP

AKA

PEP pills, party pills, Pep X, Pep Original, Pep Twisted, Pep Love, A2, Frenzy, Legal E, Nemesis, Euphoria, Exodus, Frenzy, Rapture, Charge, Blast Funk pills, Flying Angel, Twisted, JAX, Red Eye, Frog, Californian Sunrise, Strawberry Fields, XXX, Efx, 1-benzylpiperazine, piperazines

BZP factoid BZP was made in 1944 by the Wellcome Laboratories in the UK. It was trialled as a worming treatment for cattle, but was never widely used as it caused some animals to have fits.
(Europol-EMCDDA Joint Report: 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP) 2005)

What is it?

BZP is a man-made stimulant drug that makes you feel alert and wakeful. Occasionally it comes in its pure form as an off-white powder or a slightly yellow liquid. More often, it is combined with similar chemicals called piperazines, and pressed into pep pills.

Pep pills come in all shapes, sizes and colours.

How does it make you feel?

BZP, or pep pills, give you a rush of tingling all over the skin, and then it makes you alert, bright-eyed and cheerful. Pep pills are more floaty and euphoric than BZP.

The effects can last for 4-8 hours. Food is a turn off and sleep is impossible.

Most people feel headachey, tired, washed out and perhaps a bit sick the next day. Some people still can't sleep and feel restless and anxious for 24 hours.

What are the health effects?

BZP can over-stimulate the brain and lead to epileptic fits or seizures in people who have never had them before.

BZP is touted as a safe, herbal drug. It is not herbal, it is 100% man-made and its safety profile isn't really understood in the long term.

The law

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK announced a ban on the sale of BZP and pep pills in March 2007.

It is not an offence to possess BZP or pep pills.

Written by Kate Roach

Last updated July 2007

Further help and advice

thesite.org entry on BZP

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