Charges dropped over death of Sydney teen who 'wanted to fly' after taking fake LSD

spacejunk

spacejunk

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A Sydney man has been cleared of supplying a synthetic drug to a schoolmate who jumped to his death after taking it, because the drug was not illegal at the time.

Tzu-yang Fang was charged with supplying the drug to Henry Kwan who jumped from the third-floor balcony of his family's Killara home in June last year.

The 17-year-old had taken a form of the drug NBOM-e, which mimics the effects of LSD, and thought he could fly.

Henry's mother and sister were home when he jumped off the balcony, telling them he wanted to fly.

"They tried to save him from jumping but they couldn't help because they are not strong enough," his father Stephen Kwan said last year.

In a brief hearing in Parramatta Local Court this morning, the prosecution recommended the charges against Mr Fang be dismissed.

The court heard that forensic analysis had proved the drug supplied was not illegal at the time.

Magistrate Roger Brown agreed to the recommendation and the 18-year-old walked free a short time later.

Legislation passed by the New South Wales Parliament in October last year made a range of synthetic psychoactive substances and their derivatives illegal.

The Federal Government also banned the drugs in March this year.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-...sydney-teens-death-on-fake-lsd/5388480?pfm=ms


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I always thought the "jumped off a building thinking they could fly" thing was an urban myth or media hype. Pretty sad.

Sometimes I wonder if this theme manages to implant itself into the heads of inexperienced trippers - or if the guy was jumping for some entirely different reason (freaking out, dissociating, some other explanation other than the delusion that they could "fly"?
I can't imagine anyone that far-gone telling the people around them that they can fly...I've never witnessed such a thing, or had anything close to that level of psychedelic disconnection from reality; which isn't to say it doesn't happen.

...Cue lots of really witty Bill Hicks quotes.

Has anyone here seen or experienced the belief that they could fly whilst tripping? I've tripped in 5 and 7 storey apartments countless times, and I never had even the slightest inkling that I could fly by jumping off the balcony.

Is it a form of media suggestibility, or an unfortunate response to psychedelics in some people?

Anyway - sensationalist headlines aside - this ruling is quite interesting from a legal perspective.
Australians tend to assume - and advise one another - that virtually every novel psychoactive on the RC market with a passing structural resemblance to an illicit drug is illegal under analogue legislation - for this reason i was under the impression the NBOMe series was technically 'illegal' before any of the media hype or casualties came to people's attention. but this seems like another case of specific scheduling being relied upon for a substance to be considered "illegal". It would appear that the analogue laws are either too complicated, too inadequate to convict people, or not applicable to this family of drugs.

I am surprised to hear a 25x NBOMe drug was considered legal - or more specifically not illegal (I'm guessing the wording is relevant there) - by a magistrate - acting on advice of the prosecution (!) in June 2013.
Though not familiar enough with the particulars of drug law - especially these complicated analogue laws - it seems to contradict everything I had been led to believe; especially as the NBOMe series were hardly the newest, most obscure research chemical in June last year (and i am pretty certain 2c-I is schedule 9 [the highest restriction] Australia)

A sad tale regardless - but I'm sure this guy's friend has been through enough without having to serve a prison sentence on top of it.
These drugs are a prime example of why such things (and/or safer psychedelics like LSD) should be regulated and not find their way into the the hands of highschool kids to prepare and distribute.
 
I don't really believe there is any drug makes you think you can fly. Most falls on psychedelics are accidents or suicides. It is a lot easier to think your kid took drugs and died because he thought he could fly rather than he was depressed and killed himself. Just like this case which started the whole thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Linkletter
 
^ yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.
The family are quoted in the article saying he wanted to fly...but I wonder if this is just a way of saving face or sugar-coating the trauma of watching your son/brother commit suicide? I was going to say something similar, but I re-read the article and didnt want to be too dismissive (when I was putting it as a question) - but my feeling is the same as yours; suicide and accidents are far more logical explanations.

Interesting you should mention Dianne Linkletter - I saw this clip of her father blaming Timothy Leary for her death (with Leary live in the studio, trying to bail on the "interview". Whatever you may think of Leary (he was no saint...) - he comes across as a man of great integrity compared to the slimy Art Linkletter:

 
^ It's just a blatant plagiarist, that "nbome".
Always mimicking and shamelessly copying acid.
No fucking originality.

Tsk, drugs these days...
 
It's ok people saying shit like "No drug can make u think you can fly" - Who know's what goes through other people's heads whilst they are high? or what effects they feel. Drugs effect people differently..

Im not saying its total bullshit but i have a older friend who lost a best mate through thinking he could fly whilst on LSD many moons ago.

Im not saying it is or isnt complete bullshit - as i say who knows what goes through 1s head whilst there high?
 
^ good point, thanks. I was hoping to get some different perspectives on this.

There is no standard effect a drug like LSD can produce.
I know that when I've had enough acid that I lose any sense of consensus reality, walking/standing aren't usually on my agenda.
I wouldn't know what an agenda was.
But that certainly doesn't preclude accidents - and it is just my subjective experience.
 
spacejunk said:
^ good point, thanks. I was hoping to get some different perspectives on this.

There is no standard effect a drug like LSD can produce.
I know that when I've had enough acid that I lose any sense of consensus reality, walking/standing aren't usually on my agenda.
I wouldn't know what an agenda was.
But that certainly doesn't preclude accidents - and it is just my subjective experience.
Click to expand...

As i say who really knows what is positive/negative/crazy thoughts are flowing through some1's head? my friend tells me the night of his best friend jumping - out of no where hes friend stood up, walked to the window. took a few steps back and literally jumped through the plain of glass & fell to his death. R I P
 
Humans have had a fascination with flight since their caveman brethren was first shit upon by a seagull. I don't think it that remarkable that a common thought process during any psychedelic experience is the ability to fly. Who hasn't had a flying dream from an early age and soured above hills and valleys?

I've seen people think they have been given superhuman strength on lsd and tried to lift a car like Superman. The only difference was this was less likely to end in them dying when they tried to attempt it. If you get it in your head that you can fly you just have to hope that your brain tells you to take off from the ground floor like a pigeon and not off the top of the roof like an albatross.
 
I've been with people experiencing extreme delusions after consuming psychedelic drugs, so I wouldn't completely discount the possibility of this specific delusion. I think it is probably very rare, but not impossible.
 
@S.J.B. seems somewhat obsessively reported in the press though.
Like a combination of a lot of people's unfamiliarity and all the jumping off buildings stories will be enough to deter people from taking such a powerfully mind altering drug. As far as propaganda goes, it is probably quite effective to scare some people away from ever trying psychedelics. Not everyone's cup of tea, though I guess.
 
Yeah I heard this on the radio yesterday, I wasn't really surprised.

A Sydney man has been cleared of supplying a synthetic drug to a schoolmate who jumped to his death after taking it, because the drug was not illegal at the time.
Click to expand...
 
Good news. Interesting that it was classed as "not illegal". I read a post from the Australian Sex Party somewhere that said a lot of RC "busts" never get a conviction in Australia.
 
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