Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Dutch man convicted of selling suicide powder causing at least 10 deaths

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A man from the Netherlands, (Alex S) was convicted for selling a suicide powder, with instructions, to as many as 1600 people. He was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in the suicide deaths of at least 10 people, DutchNews.nl reported.
Judges in Den Bosch have jailed the man who supplied so-called suicide powder to at least 10 people who killed themselves, saying he had harmed the value of human life.

The court ruled that Alex S from Eindhoven had been selling the powder, named in court as “substance X” for three years, including instructions for its use.

He was jailed for 3.5 years, with 18 months suspended. The jail term is less than the four years demanded by the public prosecutor because of the length of the trial and his own personal circumstances.

S, 29, had taken other people’s lives far too lightly over a three-year period, the court said. “He asked no questions and delivered as required. In doing so, the accused treated the lives of others very lightly and harmed the value of human life in general,” the court said in a summary. The full ruling will be published later.
According to DutchNews.nl,  Alex S first purchased the powder because he wanted to die by suicide. He then decided to buy large quantities of the powder and sell it for 45 euro per lethal package. He sold approximately 1600 lethal packages.

Evidence from the trial showed that it took up to 40 hours to die from the suicide powder.

According to news reports, it was not illegal to sell the suicide powder, but it was illegal to sell it with instructions for the purpose of suicide.

Ximena
Ximena, who was 19 years-old, (pictured on left) died in February 2018 after ingesting the suicide powder. Her father Randy Knol has been working to get the suicide powder banned.

The Netherland Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW) assisted suicide lobby group has been promoting the suicide powder. The Public Prosecution Service arrested the CLW chairman, Jos van Wijk, in September 2021 for his alleged involvement in promoting and distributing the suicide powder.

On May 9, 2023, Kenneth Law (57) was charged in Canada with two counts of aiding and abetting the suicide deaths of two people in Peel Region, through online sales of a substance that is lethal in high concentrations. Law sold the substance online for the purposes of aiding suicide. Law allegedly distributed 1200 packages of the suicide powder and is likely linked to deaths in many countries.

4 comments:

gadfly said...

This is a basic attitude of euthanasia enthusiasts wherever you may find them: "S, 29, had taken other people’s lives far too lightly over a three-year period, the court said. “He asked no questions and delivered as required. In doing so, the accused treated the lives of others very lightly and harmed the value of human life in general,” the court said in a summary." The same wilful ignorance of ancillary harms and knock-on effects from the position of death as virtue is apparent in any discussions with pro-death people. This has to change. We cannot treat human lives lightly.

Anonymous said...

3.5 years is a mere slap on the wrist, and a wink and a nod. Just enough of a sentence to publicly say they "have controls."

Dcn Bill Gallerizzo

Alex Schadenberg said...

3.5 years is actually significant. The Netherlands law has a 3 year penalty for assisting a suicide. Because he was convicted in 10 suicide deaths he was given more then the maximum.

Voice of Gone Ballistic said...

Best interest exemptions in context of family seeing medical records. What does best interest exemption mean.

In BC a representative can access a patient's medical records as the representative is to assist the patient in decision making.