In Japan, where strict anti-drug laws remain in place, you might find products that claim to give similar sensations to illegal substances but use ingredients allowed by law. Especially, in the harder-to-regulate realm of the Internet, products that claim to give “legal highs” are sold, but who knows what’s really inside them?
In May, a university student in Yamanashi Prefecture found this out the hard way, having ordered some cookies online that claimed to be made with “mood-enhancing ingredients.” Shortly after eating some with an acquaintance, he jumped from the second floor of his dormitory. He was hurt in the fall but none of his injuries are life-threatening.
The student was given a drug test by the Yamanashi Prefectural Police at the time but he was found to have no illegal substances in his system. The cookies he ate were also examined and also found to be free of illegal narcotics. However, the details of the case would strongly suggest that eating the cookies was the main factor influencing his decision to jump.
According to the drug-control division of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, products sold online may claim to contain legal ingredients but actually hide illegal substances without listing them. The ministry is also finding and testing these products and adding any new substances they find, such as synthetic cannabinoids, to their list of restricted ingredients, but say it’s difficult to keep up with the rate that new products come out.
Readers of the news online were intrigued by how the cookies could pass known drug tests but still make a guy jump out a window.
“Maybe it’s a placebo effect.”
“Sometimes just taking supplements gets me all antsy and wanting to move around.”
“What kind of cookies are these? I want to know so I can avoid them.”
“There are cookies that make you think you can fly?”
“A cookie can do that?”
“At least no one was hurt.”
“His parents must be proud for him to go off to university and do this.”
“If there really are no illegal ingredients then I guess it’s buyer beware. It’s like those extremely spicy chips.”
“If you have to go out of your way to say your product is legal, it’s pretty suspicious.”
“It’s just like the Yosuke Kubozuka incident.”
Yosuke Kubozuka is a musician and actor who fell from the ninth floor of a building in 2004 and miraculously survived. He says he has no memory of the incident and no idea why he would have fallen, adding that he never had suicidal thoughts and did not use drugs. The official explanation is that he slipped while trying to take down some decorations, but there is still uncertainty about what really happened.
Kubozuka’s case reminds us that anything is possible, but it still seems like something was seriously up with this student’s snack. So, if you want to enjoy some cookies, only buy them from a trusted store or better yet, bake your own cookies using ingredients you’ve purchased from the supermarket. It’s fun and way better than putting your life in the hands of some shady online vendor.
Source: Yomiuri Online, Twitter/@tsuisoku777
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15 Comments
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browny1
Or he could have been just "messing around" as young guys are often want to do and as a consequence "fell" over the balcony.
Maybe he was also drinking coffee or Red Bull or the like.
Pretty sure the cookie didn't make him do anything that he didn't want to do.
purple_depressed_bacon
Sounds like an example of a placebo effect taking place. He thought that the cookies contained some kind of mood enhancer, so it compelled him to engage in risky activity.
wallace
How do the police know he jumped?
OssanAmerica
I find it rather hard to believe that a police lab could not find any drugs in the student or drug itself. Unless there is some heretore undocumented ingredient. Seems an investigation into the maker would be prudent.
jeffb
Sorry to say but Japan should just legalize it. The most dangerous substances are the ones no one knows about being cooked upnin labs to circumvent draconian laws. THC is safer than alcohol or tobacco, both of which are legal and abundant in Japan. It really is farcical.
Sven Asai
I doubt that whatever cookies can force someone jumping out from second floor.
KansaimagicYoutube
University student. That says it all. After 12 years of government schooling this guy wants more. Darwin award nomination for sure.
Lindsay
Don’t blame the cookies. This whacko had mental stability issues long before he ate the them.
ian
Details of the case suggest eating the cookies was not the main factor.
If the acquaintance who ate the cookies with him or others jumped also maybe I'll reconsider my opinion
falseflagsteve
I guess by cookies they mean like biscuits, well I have sometimes usually digestives and they don’t affect my state of mind in any way whatsoever.
wallace
Biscuits/cookies containing stimulants of some kind.
Mr Kipling
Woohoo... Way to go!
Somebody FU and found out.
Hey kids DON'T CO DRUGS !
PeaceIsReal
Sad story. I hope he’s enjoying his existence more in the next life and using that newfound joy to help liberate the Stucks.
GuruMick
Cookies laced with "Mexican Jumping Beans "?
kurisupisu
I can buy various products legally all over Japan which cause blackouts and aberrative behavior.
Why worry about cookies?