By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
A Netherlands man (Alex S) was convicted for selling a suicide powder, with instructions, to as many as 1,600 people and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in the suicide deaths of at least 10 people.
Judges in Den Bosch have jailed the man who supplied so-called suicide powder to at least 10 people who killed themselves, saying he had harmed the value of human life.
The court ruled that Alex S from Eindhoven had been selling the powder, named in court as “substance X” for three years, including instructions for its use.
He was jailed for 3.5 years, with 18 months suspended. The jail term is less than the four years demanded by the public prosecutor because of the length of the trial and his own personal circumstances.
S, 29, had taken other people’s lives far too lightly over a three-year period, the court said. “He asked no questions and delivered as required. In doing so, the accused treated the lives of others very lightly and harmed the value of human life in general,” the court said in a summary. The full ruling will be published later.
According to DutchNews.nl Alex S first purchased the powder because he wanted to die by suicide. He then decided to buy large quantities of the powder and sell it for 45 euro for a lethal package. He sold approximately 1600 lethal packages.
Evidence from the trial showed that deaths from the suicide powder took up to 40 hours to complete.
According to the news reports, it was not illegal to sell the suicide powder, but it was illegal to sell it, with instructions, for the purpose of suicide.
Ximena, who was 19 years-old, (pictured on left) died in February 2018 after ingesting the suicide powder. Her father Randy Knol has been working to get the suicide powder banned.
The Netherland Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW) assisted suicide lobby group has also been promoting the suicide powder. The Public Prosecution Service arrested the CLW chairman, Jos van Wijk, in September 2021 for his alleged involvement in promoting and distributing the suicide powder.
On May 9, 2023; Kenneth Law (57) was charged in Canada with two counts of aiding and abetting the suicide deaths of two people in Peel Region, through online sales of a substance that is lethal in high concentrations. Law sold the substance online for the purposes of aiding suicide. Law is allegedly distributed 1,200 packages of the suicide powder and is allegedly linked to deaths in many countries.
Editor’s note. This appeared at Mr. Schadenberg’s blog [] and reposted with permission.