Saturday, April 11, 2026

Coroner highlights dangers of drugs in inquest into man’s death at Rhythm and Vines

Fletcher Wong news
PHOTO SUPPLIED.

A coroner has ruled the 2020 death of 19-year-old university student Fletcher Dylan Wong, who disappeared from the Rhythm and Vines music festival, as self-inflicted but stopped short of a suicide finding.

Wong, who had taken LSD and eutylone, exhibited anxious and paranoid behaviour before leaving the festival grounds.

His body was found two days later.

Coroner Andrew Schirnack stated Wong may have been in a state of drug-induced psychosis, lacking the capacity to form intent, and noted the case illustrates the dangers of drug use.

Wong, an Otago University student with no history of mental health issues, believed he had taken MDMA but had unknowingly consumed the more dangerous stimulant eutylone. Coroner Schirnack alluded to the risks of drug misuse and praised the festival’s health and safety efforts, while noting that drug testing at events like Rhythm and Vines had only recently become legal.

Festival organisers have since coordinated with health agencies to enhance wellbeing initiatives for attendees.

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  1. So you have a minority government who throws dissidents in jail. Yet China and Russia are supposedly “tyrannical “. At least Putin has 80 percent approved in independent polls. How much do Starmer get? 30? 20?

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