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Australia's "Dr Death" is organising a suicide pill-making course for the elderly in New Zealand and expects about 30 participants.
Philip Nitschke, euthanasia campaigner and founder of Exit Australia, is in New Zealand promoting a weekend retreat in Australia where participants would make their own "peaceful pills".
He said yesterday that the response from Kiwis had been so strong it was likely a New Zealand course would also be held next year.
About 10 people from seminars in Auckland and Wellington had said they were keen to attend the workshops.
About 15 people, mainly elderly women, attended a seminar at Wellington's St Andrew's on The Terrace yesterday to hear Dr Nitschke speak about the suicide pills and the risks involved in illegally making them.
The brown-coloured barbiturate-based drug kills within an hour, or minutes if taken with alcohol.
Dr Nitschke said participants would "collaborate" to make the pills, with help from chemists. He believed police would find it hard to prosecute because of the group collaboration and the advanced age of those involved.
He hoped to hold the Australian workshop in May or June and, depending on its success, to organise one in New Zealand soon after.
Neil Taylor and his wife travelled from Napier to listen to Dr Nitschke.
The 67-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 and has since had many operations to remove cancers throughout his body.
He said he had never thought much about euthanasia before becoming sick but was now interested to hear what "the good doctor" had to say. "It's loss of control and your destiny is left with people who may not actually help you in an honest way."
A middle-aged Wellington woman said she felt strongly about euthanasia.
"The right to end your life peacefully at the time of your choosing, especially if you're suffering, is the last great human right in a secular society."
She would be interested in attending a pill-making workshop in New Zealand.
source: Dominion Post
Philip Nitschke, euthanasia campaigner and founder of Exit Australia, is in New Zealand promoting a weekend retreat in Australia where participants would make their own "peaceful pills".
He said yesterday that the response from Kiwis had been so strong it was likely a New Zealand course would also be held next year.
About 10 people from seminars in Auckland and Wellington had said they were keen to attend the workshops.
About 15 people, mainly elderly women, attended a seminar at Wellington's St Andrew's on The Terrace yesterday to hear Dr Nitschke speak about the suicide pills and the risks involved in illegally making them.
The brown-coloured barbiturate-based drug kills within an hour, or minutes if taken with alcohol.
Dr Nitschke said participants would "collaborate" to make the pills, with help from chemists. He believed police would find it hard to prosecute because of the group collaboration and the advanced age of those involved.
He hoped to hold the Australian workshop in May or June and, depending on its success, to organise one in New Zealand soon after.
Neil Taylor and his wife travelled from Napier to listen to Dr Nitschke.
The 67-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 and has since had many operations to remove cancers throughout his body.
He said he had never thought much about euthanasia before becoming sick but was now interested to hear what "the good doctor" had to say. "It's loss of control and your destiny is left with people who may not actually help you in an honest way."
A middle-aged Wellington woman said she felt strongly about euthanasia.
"The right to end your life peacefully at the time of your choosing, especially if you're suffering, is the last great human right in a secular society."
She would be interested in attending a pill-making workshop in New Zealand.
source: Dominion Post
