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The line between legal party pills and illicit drugs is becoming increasingly blurred after illegal drugs were found in some party pills sent for ESR analysis.
Police National Crime Manager, Detective Superintendent Win van der Velde, is also worried that many party pills look similar to ecstasy pills and have similar logos and marketing material.
He says there have been recent cases of people taking party pills without having any idea what is in them, and they have become seriously ill as a result.
Eight days ago West Coast man Ben Rodden took what is believed to have been party pills. He remains in a coma in Christchurch Hospital, and in another incident, Levin police are dealing with a homicide inquiry after a man collapsed and died last week after taking an unknown substance.
Rodden's liver is healing but he has now developed lung problems. His parents still do not know what he took.
ESR tests have found BZP - the ingredient in legal shop-sold pills - is now being added to ecstasy tablets sold on the black market, which is a potentially dangerous cocktail.
"We're finding that ecstasy tablets are containing real mixtures of drugs and other active substances," Keith Bedford of ESR says.
"Two of the most common types of ecstasy tablets currently contain MDMA plus methamphetamine, which is the same as P."
Police say it is now more important than ever not to accept drugs without knowing where they have come from. While there is concern that pills sold at raves and on the party scene may be illegal and potentially lethal, there are no issues with pills sold in shops.
