Full house for suicide workshop in Vancouver
'Have a peaceful death,' says Australian doctor and right-to-die advocate
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 5:00 PM PT
CBC News
Philip Nitschke of Exit International said people should be able to take their own lives safely and peacefully. (CBC)A right-to-die organization held a workshop in a Vancouver church Wednesday after the public library refused to allow the group to use its meeting rooms for fear of contravening laws against assisting suicide.
Exit International, an Australian organization whose motto is "A Peaceful Death is Everybody's Right," filled a local Unitarian church to capacity for the two-hour morning workshop.
Exit founder Dr. Philip Nitschke was blunt in his advice to participants.
"Go to the cupboard, pour the drug into a glass and drink it, and have a peaceful death and not break the law," Nitschke said. "Suicide is not a crime."
The drug he referred to was Nembutal, a brand name for the barbiturate pentobarbital. Nitschke said it's not available in Canada, so he suggested people go to Mexico, Peru or Thailand to obtain it before they become too ill to travel.
Nitschke said people may not need to use the substance for several years, but they have a right to know how to get it and how to use it.
"They find out what they need to effectively, peacefully and reliably end their lives and take those steps while they can," Nitschke told a news conference before the workshop.
"They will not find themselves in the situation of having to ask someone they love to take serious legal risks to help them."
Exit International offers kits for verifying the potency of Nembutal for people planning to end their lives.
The Vancouver Library did not want to risk providing a forum for Nitschke's group. In July, the library cancelled a room booking by Exit International, alleging a meeting and workshop could breach the Criminal Code.
Rev. Steven Epperson of the Unitarian church where the workshop was held said he believes Nitschke has the right to free speech, even if he's telling people how to kill themselves.
One workshop in Canada
Some people at the workshop said the public should be able to hear Nitschke's point of view.
"Its part of my education," one participant told CBC News. "I want to know all about everything and this is just part of that.
"I think it's ridiculous to not want people to know as much about it," another said. "And I personally want to have the choice."
But one critic of the right-to-die movement said people should try to help others live with dignity rather than help them die.
"It's an extremist approach, which doesn't fit well with a health-care system that needs to look after vulnerable people," Dr. Will Johnston of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Vancouver said of the right-do-die movement.
The Vancouver workshop was the first and only public meeting for Exit International in Canada. The organization is holding three workshops on the West Coast of the U.S. over the next 10 days.
