President of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention says assisted suicide is very dangerous

An article about the online poll by the Canadian Association for Retired Persons (CARP), written by Lee Greenberg and Charlie Fidelman and published yesterday in the Montreal Gazette, quoted Marion Cooper from the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention as stating that legalizing assisted suicide is very dangerous.

The article stated:

Marion Cooper, president of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, said public discussion about assisted suicide is important, "but it's premature to have a position on assisted suicide when we don't have a national strategy on suicide prevention, which is a public-health issue," she said.

"It's very dangerous to tread on those topics without an overarching support for suicide prevention. There's a risk that if legislation on assisted suicide were to move forward, that it could be misinterpreted and abused."

Today it has been reported that the state of Oregon, the state that legalized assisted suicide 12 years ago, has the highest rate of suicide in the United States.

Canada needs a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy before Canadians should ever consider legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.

Link to the article by Lee Greenberg: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Terminally+seniors+afraid+death/3504604/story.html