HSE fails to implement EU ban on legal ecstasy

THE HSE has failed to implement an EU Council decision in March urging member states to ban a legal ecstasy pill.

Benzylpiperazine or BZP, sold as an alternative to illegal drugs such as ecstasy, is still widely available and has caused three young Cork men to be hospitalised over the past month.

Jack Wall, Labour spokesman on community and rural affairs, said it was “crazy” to think that the substance had not yet been banned in accordance with the EU ruling.