Death Row suicide drugs on sale to teenagers
Firms promise fast delivery that will kill in 20 minutes
Websites offer Death Row drug to vulnerable youngsters and the old
2016. He did it without telling wife of 22 years Gaynor for fear of implicating her in his death. She has spoken out about how legal assisted dying could have meant he could have confided in her and would not have had to die alone. Campaigners for assisted dying have called for a change in current laws which means helping someone end their life carries a maximum
prison sentence of 14 years. This week MPs debated the issue for the first time for four years.
MP Nick Boles, who co-chairs the all party group for Choice at the End of Life, called for a public consultation on rules that criminalise anyone who helps a suffering person end their life.
Pentobarbital is a Class B drug under UK law. A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is unlawful to supply, possess, produce, import or export a Class A, B or C drug without the appropriate authority. Law enforcement agencies are working with internet providers to shut down UK- based websites found to be committing these offences.”
Exit International’s founder Dr Philip Nitschke, known as Dr Death, warned some of the sites are scams.
ANGRY
Dr Nitschke is based in the Netherlands and campaigns for assisted dying. He was the first doctor in the world to administer a legal lethal injection in 1996.
“We see complaints almost daily from victims of these scams,” he said. “Many are initially angry with us because fraudsters claim we have endorsed them.
“We are also seeing cases of victims being blackmailed by scammers who threaten to hand over their details to the police and report them for buying illegal drugs. Those who fall for it are mainly elderly people. These sites are slick with convincing testimonials - but their business model is simply to take cash and do nothing. It causes a lot of panic and pain.”
Thomas Davies, of Dignity in Dying said: “We are all too aware that the current law forces some people who are suffering at the end of life to take desperate measures. Websites selling dangerous drugs, or scamming potentially vulnerable people, is another dire consequence of the absence of a safeguarded assisted dying law.
“It’s vital the authorities and internet companies do everything possible to shut down these websites.”
Websites selling dangerous drugs is a dire result of the lack of an assisted dying law THOMAS DAVIES DIGNITY IN DYING