Thursday, January 2, 2014

Nitschke is selling suicide kits in the United States.

By Alex Schadenberg, International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Sign the petition to Stop Nitschke from selling Max Dog Suicide Kits in the USA.


In his most recent newsletter, Philip Nitschke, Australia's Dr Death, claims to have found a way to import suicide kits into the United States, starting January 2014, under the cover of his Max Dog "Brewing" kit.


Nitschke admitted that his Max Dog kits are in fact Suicide kits.
Suicide Kits banned

On June 30, 2011; Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law a bill outlawing the sale of "suicide kits" in Oregon.



Nick Klonoski
The Oregon bill was in response to the death of Oregon resident, Nick Klonoski (29) who lived with chronic depression and died by suicide after ordering a suicide kit from a group called GLADD in California.

In May 2011, the FBI raided and shut-down the California suicide kit maker - GLADD - that provided Nick Klonoski, the suicide/asphyxiation kit.

Similar to GLADD, Nitschke sells his suicide kits online to unknown customers who pay for the suicide kit, online, by visa or mastercard.

Nitschke's Newsletter


In his recent newsletter, Nitschke states:
It has been a long time coming but finally Max Dog Brewing is set to become available in the US in January 2014.
The newsletter article then states:
Cylinders will be sold as a kit with a Nitrogen regulator and tubing. US purchasers will be able to purchase online...
Nitschke has a history promoting suicide.

In 2001, Nitschke said that his so-called ‘peaceful pill’ should be ‘available in the supermarket so that those old enough to understand death could obtain death peacefully at the time of their choosing’.

Asked who would qualify for access he replied that: 
‘all people qualify, not just those with the training, knowledge or resources to find out how to “give away” their life and someone needs to provide this knowledge training or resource necessary to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, (and) the troubled teen’. 
2010 report in Victoria Australia demonstrated that coroners were aware of 51 Australians who had died from an overdose of Nembutal, a lethal barbiturate that Nitschke has promoted since the late 1990’s.

Of the 38 cases fully investigated by coroners, only 11 people were known to have suffered chronic physical pain or a terminal illness before their deaths. Of the 51, 14 were Australians in their 20’s and 30’s.

Journalist Michael Cook put it to Nitschke in 2011 that ‘nearly two-thirds of the Australians who died after quaffing Nembutal... were under 60, and quite a few were in their 20s and 30s... [suggesting that] that mental illness or depression, not unbearable pain, was the reason for the suicide.’

Nitschke responded:
‘There will be some casualties... but this has to be balanced with the growing pool of older people who feel immense well-being from having access to this information, [about suicide drugs].’
Nitschke also uses Google search engines to promote his suicide kits and books online.

Suicide/Asphyxiation kits increase the number of suicide deaths of mentally ill and depressed people.

In September 2013, Tyler Gunn from Arizona, pled guilty to manslaughter for his part in the assisted suicide death of Katherine Lemberg who lived with chronic depression. Gunn was sentenced to nine years in jail in November for assisting in suicide.

Vulnerable Americans who live with mental illness or chronic depression will not be screened out by Nitschke. 

American authorities need to stop Max Dog suicide kits from being imported or distributed throughout the United States.

If you are experiencing suicidal feelings and you are reading this article, please contact a suicide hotline.  In the United States contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Link). In Canada contact Your Life Counts (Link).  

Links to other articles:

6 comments:

suicide cleaner said...

I still dont understand this, if people want to kill themselves let them. They will find a way and the kit seems like a gentler approach then say jumping out of a building.

Alex Schadenberg said...

Depressed people, such as Nick Klonoski, and others, as proven by the 2010 Victoria Australian study, are dying with these kits.

These kits encourage suicide leading to the suicide contagion effect.

This is not about choice, this is about lying to the authorities about the purpose of the Max Dog kits to encourage death.

Remember, these kits can also be used for homicide. Death is undetectable.

Andrew Smith said...

Strictly speaking, Alex, death would be very detectable. :-) It's more that the *cause* of death would be forensically undetectable.

Anne said...

Alex, has anybody in the US actually ordered and received one of these kits? And are the instructions pretty unmistakeably unrelated to home brewing? I would like to do a display at a pro-life meeting and wouldn't mind spending a little money to get the pieces if they're sufficiently incriminating. (leblancaj@aol.com)

Night Nurse said...

You are evil forcing others to suffer and harming the families of those who have died with your pro life propaganda. If you want to save lives campaign against war but leave those who want to die peacefully alone. As a nurse I have seen suffering that is beyond your comprehension and until it happens to you (which you deserve) mind your own business you disgusting pervert.

Demi said...

100% agreement.
People like that make my skin crawl. No one asked to be born. Yet countless nutjobs act as if we are obligated to stick around. Any amount of pain or discomfort is justification for suicide imo as it's more than would be experienced if one never existed.