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Thread: Henry Kwan (17) jumps to his death in a synthetic psychosis

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    Henry Kwan (17) jumps to his death in a synthetic psychosis

    TALENTED and ambitious, Henry Kwan was dux of his class and determined to become a doctor.

    But a foolish experiment with a lethal synthetic drug cost the 17-year-old his life.
    In a drug-induced psychosis on Wednesday night, Henry stripped naked then plunged from the top-floor balcony of his family's north shore home in Sydney - because he "believed he could fly".

    A tragic story emerged of the final moments before the Year 12 Killara High student died just hours after ingesting a tab of what he thought was LSD - but was in fact a synthetic drug - which he bought from another teen, police said.

    Last night, his devastated father Stephen Kwan said Henry had "confessed" to his mother that he had taken the drugs.
    "He thought he could fly," Mr Kwan said. "Whatever it did to him, he just kept saying he could fly. He was behaving very irrationally and strangely and my wife tried to stop him ... she grabbed hold of him on the balcony but he was too strong."
    Just after 8pm, Henry fell from the third floor of the Killara Ave apartment block, in front of his helpless mother and younger sister. He died from massive head injuries.

    Mr Kwan said it was the first time he had known Henry to touch drugs, with his son ordinarily very focused on school and study.
    "I just don't understand why he would take drugs, Henry would never do something like that, he wasn't like that," Mr Kwan said.
    "He was such a smart boy, very good at school. He wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, but mostly a doctor."

    NSW Police drug squad head Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham said the use of synthetic LSD was an emerging problem, and in many cases being taken by teenagers not prone to drug use, such as Henry.
    "A lot of the cases we are seeing involved young people who have never been in trouble with the law before," Supt Bingham said. "They are not your stereotype drug users. "

    He said the drugs are often bought over the internet cheaply and sent through the mail, mostly from China.
    "It gives the drug an air of legality or they think it is safe because it is on the internet. But there is absolutely nothing safe about it," he said.
    A 17-year-old man has been charged with supply of a prohibited drug, and will face court on July 3.


    Henry Kwan, 17, fell off a balcony and died after taking what he thought was LSD.

    http://www.news.com.au/national-news...-1226658982611

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    If they're charging a 17yr old it's probably a class-mate. Killara is an area of Sydney known for wealth. This sort of thing is not supposed to happen there - & if it does, it's not supposed to be the "good kids" who are involved & certainly not the Dux of the school.

    & Luvit, you gave this article a far more respectful title than the original stories out of Sydney this morning. I have a feeling his Mum & sister aren't going to appreciate the black humour - now or ever.

    Hmm, maybe there were complaints. I can't find any articles with the titles I saw before 7am AEST???


    meanwhile, 25mins ago his Dad released a video statement/warning

    http://media.watoday.com.au/selectio...y-4471635.html

    ETA - Dad says on the video that just prior to jumping he told his Mum he was sorry, he took something he got from his class mates & wasn't feeling well.
    Last edited by blighted star; 06-06-2013 at 07:00 PM.

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    Sana sana colita de rana beli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gawna View Post
    Roses are red, violets are blue, seriously where is the fucking ring I gave Julie and ask her mom about the flowers
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron_NYC View Post
    In all fairness, we have no idea how big this dude's cock was.

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    There seems to be an awful lot of threads on deaths in Sydney today.

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    Administrator Olivia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by daybeforetheday View Post
    There seems to be an awful lot of threads on deaths in Sydney today.
    People die here too. Usually on a daily basis.

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    The drug that killed Sydney teenager Henry Kwan was not "synthetic LSD" but something else that has not yet been included on any banned products list,
    the Eros Association claims.
    Misinformation and ignorance are driving the debate about drugs, says Eros Association CEO Fiona Patten, who has been advocating for retailers of the products.
    She said the drug, which caused 17-year-old Henry to think he could fly when he jumped off a balcony earlier this month, is a new product called NBOMe.

    "It's clearly a dangerous drug and yet it has not been included on any of the banned lists," Ms Patten said in a statement.

    Some of the 19 products prohibited under a temporary national ban were completely harmless, she said.
    "What happens if a government bans a substance that later turns out to be completely legal under other laws and is not a dangerous drug?
    Is the federal government looking at compensating traders?

    Are they looking at a buy-back scheme similar to John Howard's approach on firearms?" she asked.
    Ms Patten said she was rejected by Health Minister Tania Plibersek last week when she attempted to brief the federal government
    on the extent and make-up of the industry.

    Ms Patten said prohibition of drugs has never made them safer or reduced demand.
    She said the only recreational drug in Australia with decreasing usage was tobacco.

    "The reason smoking is in strong decline is because it is legal, heavily regulated and the subject of extensive health education campaigns," she said.
    She said the government was ignoring its own success by creating new laws to drive the products underground.
    Minister Assisting for Deregulation David Bradbury told reporters in Sydney on Sunday that the sale and distribution of the products equated to organised crime.

    "This is not about some producer that has made a mistake and produced a product that is substandard;
    these are drugs that are killing people," he said.
    He admitted the national ban of 120 days was "not the most effective way of tackling the problem",
    but would buy time for states such as NSW and the Northern Territory to adopt a national poisons standard.
    The standard lists drugs by their chemical compound and not by name, making them easier to police.

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/synthetic-...617-2oct8.html

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    Senior Member trepid's Avatar
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    Moral of the story: If you insist on hallucinating, don't buy your LSD tabs off dubious internet sources using bitcoins. Or Mescalin.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Research chemical NBOM-e linked to drug deaths of teenagers Henry Kwan, Nick Mitchell, Preston Bridge

    7.30 – CONOR DUFFY UPDATED THU 8 AUG 2013, 10:34 AM AEST


    Research chemical NBOM-e linked to drug deaths of teenagers Henry Kwan, Nick Mitchell, Preston Bridge

    7.30 – CONOR DUFFY UPDATED THU 8 AUG 2013, 10:34 AM AEST

    PHOTO Sydney teenager Henry Kwan, 17, died in a fall after taking a synthetic drug.

    A research chemical called NBOM-e is being blamed for the deaths of three high school students and one adult, with police and drug educators sounding an alarm to parents and students.

    The substance is sold on drug-dealing website the Silk Road for less than $2 and can also be purchased in bulk from factories in China.

    Originally a chemical used in research for identifying depression, drug dealers took the chemical formula from scientific journals and replicated it.

    The head of the NSW Drug Squad, Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham, says police are now certain the drug caused the death of 17-year-old student Henry Kwan, who jumped from the third-floor balcony of his home two months ago.

    "We know [it was] one of the NBOM-e products," Detective Superintendent Bingham told 7:30.

    "There's several of them - 25b, 25c, 25i - [they] seem to be the most popular products.

    "I believe it was a 25i product that Henry ingested. And it was sold to him as LSD, not as NBOM-e."

    7.30 can also reveal that police have a strong suspicion the drug caused the death of 15-year-old Nick Mitchell from the Central Coast, who died last December.

    At the time the death was blamed on LSD.

    "Unfortunately young Nick Mitchell died as a result of taking a substance, and his friend who survived engaged in quite reckless behaviour," Det Supt Bingham said.

    "Toxicology reports have since come back that no LSD was involved in Nick Mitchell's death.

    "It's speculation until a full toxicology report comes back, but I'm quite sure that NBOM-e will be involved in that case."

    NBOM-e more dangerous than LSD, but still legal in NSW

    At the time of Henry Kwan's death it was reported that he had taken synthetic LSD.

    But NBOM-e drugs are far more toxic and dangerous, and contrary to reports are still legal in some Australian states.

    "Currently NBOM-es are legal in NSW," Det Supt Bingham said.

    "I've made submissions, I'm on a inter departmental government panel working group making submissions to have these drugs listed as prohibited, and hopefully that will happen in the very near future."

    Henry's father Stephen Kwan hopes NBOM-es are quickly made illegal.

    "I wanted to get that message that really he died for a good cause, that he can really help to save more people, more young people," he said.

    Family grieves for son who took drug bought on Silk Road

    In Perth, another grieving family is waiting on toxicology results for their teenage son Preston Bridge, with LSD originally suspected but now ruled out.

    Preston's father Rod Bridge does not know if NBOM-es are involved, but the drug was purchased on Silk Road for a similar price and the circumstances are very similar.

    "One of the other boys there has told me that it was purchased as an experimental trial pack, and you can buy 10 for $20 and if you buy 10 you get one free - [a] bit like an upgrade meal at McDonalds," he said.

    "So someone's out there selling whatever and for the sake of most probably $2, it's killed my son."

    Mr Bridge has set up a shrine in his home to his son and is leading a campaign to have the Silk Road shut down.

    He also wants students educated about the risks.

    Through tears, he says his son Preston would be proud.

    "He'd support it a long way, for sure. I'm doing it for him. That's what he'd do," he said.

    Drug educator warning of dangers of NBOM-e

    The three deaths and the death of an adult in South Australia are being closely monitored by veteran drug educator Paul Dillon.

    For the first time in more than 20 years of talks with teenagers about drugs, Mr Dillon is now including a drug warning.

    "Police put out warnings about things and then nothing bad happens and young people don't believe us - we lose our credibility," he said.

    "I certainly don't want to lose mine, but I really do believe that something really is happening at the moment, with the very young - we're not talking about 18, 19-years-olds here, we're going younger and younger."

    Mr Dillon believes toxicology tests will soon confirm NBOM-e was taken in all three deaths.

    "For many of the deaths that we suspect to be NBOM-e related, we still haven't got the toxicology through - certainly every indication is it is what it is," he said.

    "I certainly wouldn't be giving a drug warning in schools unless I thought that this was the case.

    "All of the experts that I've spoken to - law enforcement, toxicologists - all believe that that's what we're going to see here."

    POSTED WED 7 AUG 2013, 7:56 PM AEST


    PHOTO Preston Bridge died in February at an after-party following his school ball.


    VIDEO [8:38] Deadly chemical blamed for students' drug deaths
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-0...l-drug/4872270
    Last edited by blighted star; 08-10-2013 at 06:13 AM.

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    The substance is sold on drug-dealing website the Silk Road for less than $2 and can also be purchased in bulk from factories in China.
    There's a major red flag ^ ^ right there. This is scary...they're making new 'designer drugs' faster than they can be outlawed.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Scary-sounding shit for sure. This is the head-butt guy they talk about in the vid I linked. I was starting to think it was centred around the Nth Shore/Northern Beaches- Central & Nth Coast NSW, but this one's South Aus & the young guy in the 2nd photo above was Western Aus, so it's not just NSW (maybe the Sydney media pay more attention to local stuff?)


    http://m.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou...-1226472672220

    A NEW drug causing bizarre and irrational behaviour has emerged in South Australia, and has led to the death of a man who killed himself by repeatedly running into trees and power poles.

    The two drug types - known as 25B-NBOMe and 25I-NBOMe - were responsible for the death of a man in the Mid North in March, who died from injuries sustained after running into fixed objects, trees and Stobie poles as a result of an overdose.

    In the past 11 days, there were two non-fatal overdoses - also in the mid-north of the state - in young adults who were related to each other.

    Drug Investigation Branch Acting Detective Superintendent Derryn Phillips said the relatively new drug was believed to be made in China and bought over the internet.

    She said its long and short-term health issues, and its presence interstate, were unknown.

    The drug is a derivative of potent hallucinogens, 2CB and 2CI, both banned substances in South Australia. They are marketed similar to LSD.

    "The effects of these drugs causes bizarre and irrational behaviour, paranoia, fear and confusion. Other effects include increased body temperature, sweats and seizures," she said.

    "Overdose on these drugs is a reality... and can obviously result in dire consequences."

    Acting Det Supt Phillips said users of the drug were setting themselves up as guinea pigs and often tended to double dose or redose if the effects of the drug were not felt immediately.

    She said there was nothing to suggest the drugs were isolated in the Mid North.

    "The issue with these drugs is that they are not regulated in this state, but they are chemically aligned to drugs that are regulated and so anybody purchasing these drugs runs the risk of being charged with trafficking in a controlled drug in this state."

    In a separate incident, a man, 23, will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on October 9 charged with trafficking in a controlled drug after he was arrested for purchasing 25B-NBOMe.

    Further drug information is available from the Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia on 1300 131 340.

    Police strongly warn against the use of any illicit drug and urge members of the public with information about illicit drugs to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at www.sa.crimestoppers.com.auSHARE
    Last edited by blighted star; 08-10-2013 at 06:44 AM.

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    Someone posted yesterday in another thread that a teenage friend of a family member took some drug and freaked out running around headbutting things, and died. This is so bizarre...a drug that makes you headbutt things until you die? How hard would you have to headbutt for it to be fatal?

    So is this a thing in Aus now? I haven't seen any reports here (yet.)
    And this Silk Road black market drug website is freaking me out too!
    Last edited by *crickets*; 08-11-2013 at 10:32 AM.

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    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    The Silk Road site was founded in February 2011, but research due to be formally published later this year tracked its growth during six months of last year. Over those months, sales on the site doubled, hitting $1.7m a month. The site isn't easy to use, but doesn't require particular expertise: "if you can set up a direct debit and follow a recipe for risotto then you'll work it out," said one user.

    Once you're in, it works much like eBay: sellers' reputations are verified through feedback, building trust. Money is typically held in an escrow (a trusted middleman) until delivery, with missing packages qualifying for partial refunds.

    Silk Road today lists more than 10,000 items, 7,000 of which are drugs, with erotica, books and fake IDs among the rest. Notably missing are weapons of any sort (a sister site selling weapons shut due to lack of demand last year) and child pornography, both of which are banned.

    Dr Nicolas Christin, who researched the site, believes Silk Road is far bigger today than it was in July 2012 when his fieldwork ended. "It's not a matter of the police locking a few guys up to end this," he said. "It is very distributed: we are looking at more than 600 sellers each month."

    How has a marketplace with millions of dollars of revenue survived the long arm of the law? The answer, according to its users, lies in the way it is structured.

    Silk Road is no secret to law enforcement, who know where to find it online; indeed, shortly after the site's existence was first reported in 2011, the senior US senator Chuck Schumer vowed to shut it down. "It's a certifiable one-stop shop for illegal drugs that represents the most brazen attempt to peddle drugs online that we have ever seen," he said.

    The site continued uninterrupted, thanks to two technological innovations that make it all but impregnable.

    The first is that Silk Road runs as a "hidden service" on a popular internet anonymising tool known as Tor. This makes identifying the physical location of the computers operating the marketplace, or anyone visiting it, all but impossible.

    The legitimate uses of Tor make disrupting the service morally difficult: it is a staple of activists avoiding internet censorship or government crackdowns the world over, including in China, Iran and Syria. Indeed, a large proportion of Tor's funding comes, albeit indirectly, from the US state department's internet freedom budget.

    Silk Road's other protection is its use of the anonymous, stateless, encrypted online currency known as Bitcoin. Bitcoins are a currency controlled by no government, no company, and no group, but rather by math: a series of complex cryptographic calculations rule how many Bitcoins are in existence and how many are traded.

    Silk Road is probably the biggest use of the currency, but more mainstream services are adopting the Bitcoin: the blogging platform Wordpress accepts Bitcoins, as does the social news site Reddit. WikiLeaks opened up to Bitcoin when the mainstream banking system blockaded the site.

    Amir Taaki, a Bitcoin developer and activist, and convenor of Bitcoin conferences, rejects concerns that Bitcoins' biggest use is unethical. "People want drugs. The drug war is probably a failed war," he says. "I want to get rid of cartels. The way to do that is for people to buy their drugs straight from the producer. That's what's cool about things like Silk Road, you can bypass gangs."

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ug-marketplace
    Last edited by *crickets*; 08-10-2013 at 09:35 PM.

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    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Yeah the "synthetic LSD" stories/warnings have been around for a while. I thought it was weird that it was LSD, it's been around decades without stories like this, so this makes horrible sense. They're dead for the sake of a $ 2 purchase.

    & Silk Roads pretty amazing. It's not just drugs. Someone was selling a pet teratoma in a cage the other week. I've been trying to find the pic again since SR came up in the other thread. Off to find the $200 teratoma (I'll put it in the other thread).




    ETA - I found it - I'll put it in speak here - link only, someone's sure to be grossed out
    Last edited by blighted star; 08-10-2013 at 10:30 PM.

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    Senior Member trepid's Avatar
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    Ah, the good old dark net. The ultimate in anarchist pseudo-currency and transactions..

    IMO, the whole thing with this recent spate of LSD-related deaths and loop-outs is definitely related to the 'synthetic' component of these drugs. Whatever all these kids have been eating is probably some sinister experimental hybrid chemical concoction that induces hallucinations similar to an LSD experience, but the actual chemical make-up/side effects and manufacturing process of the substance could be anything...

    Hooray for prohibition ... if they just regulated certain known substances (MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD, etc.) instead of just outlawing them completely, then this whole underground industry forming around the production of synthetic varieties would lose its foothold. Kids are always going to experiment with hallucinogenics and such, you might as well make sure they are at least ingesting pure and safe forms of it, rather than some gypsy formula that was cooked up in a bath salts factory in China with some hybrid unknown chemical.

    On that note, whatever happened to just picking some wild mushrooms in the Winter, if you are so inclined to go on a magical adventure? At least you know what's in it, it's organic and safe ... and psilocybin probably won't cause you to suddenly be inspired to strip naked, eat people's faces and then throw yourself from a building in some vivid and delusional drug-induced psychosis.

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    Senior Member trepid's Avatar
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    Ah, the good old dark net. The ultimate in pseudo-anarchist currency and transactions..

    The whole thing with this recent spate of LSD-related deaths and loop-outs is definitely related to the 'synthetic' component of these drugs IMO. Whatever it is that all these kids have been eating is probably some sinister batch of experimental hybrid chemical concoctions that probably induces hallucinations similar to an LSD experience, but the actual chemical make-up/side effects and manufacturing process of the substance could be anything...

    Hooray for prohibition ... if they just regulated certain known recreational substances (MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD, etc.), instead of just outlawing them completely, then this whole underground industry forming around the production of synthetic varieties would lose its foothold. Kids are always going to experiment with hallucinogenics and such, you might as well make sure they are at least ingesting pure and safe forms of it. As opposed to some gypsy formula acquired online that was cooked up in a bath salts factory in China with some hybrid unknown chemical.

    On that note, if you are so inclined to go on a magical adventure to happy happy fun land, whatever happened to just picking some wild mushrooms in the Winter? Shit, At least you know what's in it, it's organic and safe ... and psilocybin probably won't cause you to suddenly be inspired to strip naked, eat people's faces and then throw yourself from a building in some vivid and delusional drug-induced psychosis.

  16. #16
    Senior Member trepid's Avatar
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    Ah, the good old dark net. The ultimate in pseudo-anarchist currency and transactions..

    The whole thing with this recent spate of LSD-related deaths and loop-outs is definitely related to the 'synthetic' component of these drugs IMO. Whatever it is that all these kids have been eating is probably some sinister batch of experimental hybrid chemical concoctions that probably induces hallucinations similar to an LSD experience, but the actual chemical make-up/side effects and manufacturing process of the substance could be anything...

    Hooray for prohibition ... if they just regulated certain known recreational substances (MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD, etc.), instead of just outlawing them completely, then this whole underground industry forming around the production of synthetic varieties would lose its foothold. Kids are always going to experiment with hallucinogenics and such, you might as well make sure they are at least ingesting pure and safe forms of it. As opposed to some gypsy formula acquired online that was cooked up in a bath salts factory in China with some hybrid unknown chemical.

    On that note, if you are so inclined to go on a magical adventure to happy happy fun land, whatever happened to just picking some wild mushrooms in the Winter? Shit, At least you know what's in it, it's organic and safe ... and psilocybin probably won't cause you to suddenly be inspired to strip naked, eat people's faces and then throw yourself from a building in some vivid and delusional drug-induced psychosis.

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