A retreat operator has been charged with manslaughter more than four years after a ceremonial ritual involving two obscure drugs left one man dead.
Soulore Solaris, 52, was arrested and charged on Tuesday morning over the 2021 death of a man at the Arcoora retreat he ran in Collins Creek, about 60 kilometres from Byron Bay in northern NSW.
He was charged with the manslaughter of Jarrad Antonovich, who died of a perforated oesophagus after consuming the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca and frog-based poison kambo.
Police allege Solaris presided over a ceremonial ritual using the substances on October 16, 2021, and provided Mr Antonovich with ayahuasca.
The operator, formerly known as Peter George McIntyre, is also accused of delaying medical treatment for the 47-year-old after he collapsed from using the drugs.
Kambo is only found in the Amazon rainforest and has to be obtained by scraping the clear, mucus-like substance off the back of a giant tree frog.
It is classified as a Schedule 10 poison by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the highest level of classification, meaning it is completely banned from use.
The use of kambo was banned two weeks before Mr Antonovich's passing.
Ayahuasca, banned in 2022, is a plant-based psychedelic normally consumed as a bitter-tasting "tea" with a strong odour.
The use of both substances is based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous South American communities, with adherents believing they can detoxify the body.
But some medical experts say there is no proof the substances do more than make people extremely ill.
Solaris has been banned from "providing any health services, either in paid employment or voluntary, to any member of the public" by the state's Health Care Complaints Commission.
Mr Antonovich's family has previously called for similar ceremonies to be banned to protect lives.
"He had a heart of gold ... no one deserves what happened to him," the victim's brother Chris told reporters after an inquest into the death in 2024.
Solaris was released on bail on Tuesday, on the condition that he not leave the country, report to police three times a week, and provide a $20,000 security agreement should he fail to appear in court.
He will face the Lismore Local Court on March 30.
