A Dutch psychologist says he helped more than 100 people who wished to die by equipping them with "suicide powder," in an effort to bring attention to the Netherlands' laws on assisted dying. Only a doctor is legally allowed to assist, and only if the person choosing to die is experiencing "unbearable suffering from which there is no prospect of improvement, or alternative remedy." But Wim van Dijk, 78, believes the laws should be more liberal, the Guardian reports.
He's a member of the Coöperatie Laatste Wil, or the Last Will Cooperative, which helps people who want to end their lives. Authorities are investigating allegations that people attending the group's meetings have purchased Agent X, a deadly drug, though the group denies those accusations. But van Dijk says he did tell people to stay after meetings so he could sell them the drug, at a cost of around $58 a dose. He says he knows he could be arrested over this confession and that he doesn't care, because he wants "something to happen."
Police previously arrested a 28-year-old member of the cooperative who is accused of selling suicide pills to hundreds, at least six of whom died after taking the drug, and van Dijk says that's who he got the pills from. "Civil disobedience is a lawful means of achieving a legitimate aim," van Dijk says, per Dutch News. "The same is true of the abortion law. I don’t really care if they arrest me or put me in jail." The maximum sentence is three years behind bars. (More assisted suicide stories.)
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