Kyle Ayson James: Uki man sentenced for Psilocybin, LSD drug supply

Former Air Force Officer who dealt a commercial supply of the drug microdosed LSD daily and used the mushrooms to help ‘understand himself better’.

A Uki man who supplied magic mushrooms and LSD in search of his connection to the “divine” microdosed daily, a court has heard.

Kyle Ayson James, 36, faced Lismore District Court sentence for two counts of a commercial supply of Psilocybin, known as magic mushrooms, amounting to over 596g on Friday.

He also faced sentence for supplying 0.055g of LSD and plead guilty to related charges of dealing with the proceeds of crime and two counts of possessing a prohibited drug.

The court heard the former New Zealand Air Force Officer had been found by police with a co-accused jumping over a Nimbin cow paddock back in February 11, 2021.

Police stopped them and made inquiries, asking for their identification.

When the pair went to retrieve their ID from their car, police spotted a silver tin containing a small amount of Ketamine and squares of LSD.

The court heard, when asked by police, James said he traded 500g of magic mushrooms for the LSD and Ketamine, the latter drugs were for his own personal use.

He told police he would use LSD to microdose half a tab daily and potentially supply to others, the court heard.

Police then searched the car and found 0.79g of MDMA, a further 96.8g of ground magic mushrooms in a clear bag labelled ‘100g’, and $3500 in Australian cash, the court heard.

James told the officers the money were savings for a car of which had been made through magic mushroom sales and cryptocurrency, the court heard.

He also told police he had been mailing out magic mushrooms for about five weeks and putting the proceeds into cryptocurrency.

James was placed into custody for a period of seven weeks.

Kyle Ayson James exits Lismore District Court on Friday, June 24,2022

Judge Jeffery McLennan noted police had no idea about the 500g magic mushrooms supply until James’ own “frank” admission which was to be taken into account on sentence.

The court heard James had been using hallucinogens for about 10 years and used the ketamine for meditation.

“He believed that consuming those drugs -mainly the hallucinogenic drugs and LSD- which he did daily, provided him with an opportunity to understand himself better, the world and nature better and to feel a divine connection,” Judge McLennan said.

Judge McLennan said James’ mindset was “not unique” and that historically hallucinogens had been used in cultural contexts for years, noting back to the ancient Hindu use of the psychedelic soma.

He did, however, note the drugs were still illegal and offered James an “old fashioned approach” to reaching the divine called “prayer”.

“Whatever one may think about the appropriate use of those substances in religious rituals … the drug misuse and trafficking act doesn’t seem to make allowances,” Judge McLennan said.

Judge McLennan further said the pure extraction of Psilocybin from the mushrooms would be much less than the 500g found by police, and that the mushrooms were in abundance following 2021 rainfall.

Judge McLennan noted James’ low risk of reoffending and “commended” his service to his country as a member of the Royal New Zealand air force for 10 years.

He convicted James on all three counts and sentenced him to an aggregated three year Intensive Corrections Order.