Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: Fallkniven on May 12, 2013, 10:00 pm

Title: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Fallkniven on May 12, 2013, 10:00 pm
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/doctor-provides-guide-to-illicit-drug-website-to-assist-suicide/story-fneuzlbd-1226611398622

(apologies if this was already posted) Dated April 4th 2013

Quote
IT'S called Silk Road and it's one of the internet's most secretive destinations.

It is an online black market for illicit drugs like ecstasy and cocaine that is the scourge of law enforcement and Customs.

Silk Road is a shadowy website with an often shadowy clientele. But Dr Philip Nitschke, a prominent euthanasia advocate who is one of Australia's most controversial doctors and often referred to as "Doctor Death", has found an unusual audience for the service – the elderly.

Exit International, the outspoken doctor's assisted-suicide advocacy group, has provided its mostly aged followers with a manual for how to obtain suicide medication through the encrypted black market.

Dr Nitschke said his organisation published the guide because a Customs crackdown on euthanasia medication entering the country was causing many supporters to lose their money on seized medication.

   Customs figures show the number of detections of euthanasia drugs such as Nembutal (which contains the barbiturate pentobarbitone) has tripled in the past three years, from 25 in 2009-10 to 76 in the last financial year.

"They might be 80-year-olds, but they don't like losing their $400," Dr Nitschke told news.com.au, adding that his more sophisticated strategies may help patients save their money.

The guide is necessary as the Silk Road requires significant technical expertise to access. It can only be reached using special software, not through Google or a web browser.

Silk Road, named after the ancient trade route between Europe and Asia which revolutionized the world economy, also only accepts an untraceable virtual currency called Bitcoins, not global currencies like Australian dollars.

A spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection Service said buyers and sellers of any illegal products online or on the Silk Road risk prosecution - and run the real risk of being scammed as well.

The agency said it was working in collaboration with local and international law enforcement partners as part of a global intelligence network to clamp down on buyers and sellers of drugs on anonymous websites such as Silk Road.

"Intelligence gathered by Customs and Border Protection and commentary made by buyers and sellers in online forums suggests that this disruption activity is having an adverse effect on the degree of the trust between buyers and sellers within Silk Road."

"Customs and Border Protection has noted an increasing trend on Silk Road, whereby several 'anonymous' dealers have announced on forums that they will no longer sell to Australians or have imposed more stringent transaction rules on Australian buyers."

Dr Nitschke's Silk Road manual is just the latest in a string of controversial attempts to assist people with medically-assisted suicide.

The medical regulator, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), is investigating Dr Nitschke over his use of an apparent beer brewing company to import nitrogen cylinders that can be used for suicide.

The doctor runs Max Dog Brewers, which sells nitrogen canisters which tend to be used for food processing and in beer production. The Brewer's website says the nitrogen canisters can be used for food or "the other many hundred uses".

The anti-euthanasia group Hope has complained about his promotion and sale of nitrogen, arguing it makes him an unfit person to hold a medical licence.
"I think there's a significant public policy around the activities of Exit International," Hope director Paul Russell said.

Euthanasia is illegal in Australia. Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings and Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim have introduced a proposal to legalise "voluntary assisted dying" in the island state.

It will likely be voted on later this year, although Dr Nitschke is uncertain about its chances.

Euthanasia was legal in the Northern Territory between 1995 and 1997, when the legislation was overruled by the Federal Government.



Comments? Personally I think this guy is great, fighting for the most basic of human rights. The right to die with dignity if you choose to.
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: CrazyBart on May 12, 2013, 10:03 pm
"one of the internets most secretive destinations"

I highly doubt that
But good for the Doctor. Standing up for what he believes in
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Wepromisetwenty on May 13, 2013, 07:41 am
Interesting read, +1

Even with a step by step guide though I can't imagine many of these 80+ pensioners having much luck. My grandmother can't even find the spacebar on her keyboard.
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Tellemetree on May 13, 2013, 07:48 am
Interesting read, +1

Even with a step by step guide though I can't imagine many of these 80+ pensioners having much luck. My grandmother can't even find the spacebar on her keyboard.

Yeah, my guess is they basically need their kids or some significant others help. Fine line though as far as Aus legislation goes as to when your accessory to the act.

The few cases that have gone to court have been pretty lenient, you just look like a dick as a judge if you send someones 80yo husband down for 2nd degree homicide for helping his wife die to save the pain of end stage cancer.
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Roxanne on May 13, 2013, 07:49 am
This is exactly the publicity we don't need..
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Wepromisetwenty on May 13, 2013, 08:50 am
Interesting read, +1

Even with a step by step guide though I can't imagine many of these 80+ pensioners having much luck. My grandmother can't even find the spacebar on her keyboard.

Yeah, my guess is they basically need their kids or some significant others help. Fine line though as far as Aus legislation goes as to when your accessory to the act.

The few cases that have gone to court have been pretty lenient, you just look like a dick as a judge if you send someones 80yo husband down for 2nd degree homicide for helping his wife die to save the pain of end stage cancer.

Yeah good point. Its a difficult one. The answer is probably switzerland if you can get there, but 80+, stuck miles away in oz... this may help some people.

This site helps a lot of people, and while admittedly this is terrible publicity as it'll be totally misconstrued by ignorant folk, I find it refreshing to hear something a little different to the usual "Selling drugs to kids" and "feeing addiction" spiel we usually hear.
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Railgun on May 13, 2013, 04:15 pm
This is bad rep because if people begin to kill themselves (or getting sick) using drugs from online, it's going to create more of a war on the site.

On the same token, I think people have the right to end their lives.  A quick search for nembutal yielded nothing on SR, so if it's being sold, it's being done very discretely. 
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: londonpride2 on May 13, 2013, 04:33 pm
Not good news for the road
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: Toska on May 14, 2013, 10:03 am
I think this is one of the best things about silk road. Being allowed to die with dignity when you feel ready or when you are terminally ill should be a right everyone has.  It is often found that many people who have access to euthanasia or the drugs to complete this, end up living longer than they would if they didn't have access to them, as it brings peace of mind if things get unbearable, they can go when needed. Without access to this, people end their life before it is necessary, as they need to do it while still physically and mentally capable and before things get so bad that they cannot.  I know elderly people who have chosen to die in countries it is legal to do so, and they were able to spend there last moments under the care of a doctor making sure there was no pain, surrounded by loved ones.  It makes me so sad that some people think just because it is not a choice they believe in, means they can deny it to others.  When we allow our pets to be put down when they are in unbearable pain, why do we not allow people the same right? 

I think some vendors should try to stock it.  It is much safer obtaining drugs here, than on the clearnet through random people overseas who do not properly package or have an escrow system.  Much more likely to get intercepted and caught. And much safer than flying to Mexico or China and trying to obtain there.  And, a much nicer death than having to throw themselves off a bridge or under a train, or attempt with household chemicals and leave themselves worse off than before.  As someone who has seen an elderly person jump to their death, it is unbelievably sad and clearly something is wrong with the system.
Title: Re: Fairfax: "Doctor provides guide to illicit drug website to assist suicide"
Post by: ilovelucyshow on May 14, 2013, 02:14 pm
I think this is one of the best things about silk road. Being allowed to die with dignity when you feel ready or when you are terminally ill should be a right everyone has.  It is often found that many people who have access to euthanasia or the drugs to complete this, end up living longer than they would if they didn't have access to them, as it brings peace of mind if things get unbearable, they can go when needed. Without access to this, people end their life before it is necessary, as they need to do it while still physically and mentally capable and before things get so bad that they cannot.  I know elderly people who have chosen to die in countries it is legal to do so, and they were able to spend there last moments under the care of a doctor making sure there was no pain, surrounded by loved ones.  It makes me so sad that some people think just because it is not a choice they believe in, means they can deny it to others.  When we allow our pets to be put down when they are in unbearable pain, why do we not allow people the same right? 

I think some vendors should try to stock it.  It is much safer obtaining drugs here, than on the clearnet through random people overseas who do not properly package or have an escrow system.  Much more likely to get intercepted and caught. And much safer than flying to Mexico or China and trying to obtain there.  And, a much nicer death than having to throw themselves off a bridge or under a train, or attempt with household chemicals and leave themselves worse off than before.  As someone who has seen an elderly person jump to their death, it is unbelievably sad and clearly something is wrong with the system.

I couldn't agree more. I think it's a person's basic right to die with dignity. If ill-informed lawmakers take away that right, people deserve to know about alternatives. I know what it's like to be near death in a hospital, and I can clearly imagine a scenario where assisted suicide would be by choice. Unfortunately, I'd have trouble accomplishing it because of stupid laws...