GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

It’s nothing new that when people in the U.S. want illegal prescription drugs, they order them from other countries. In fact, the list of illegal items obtained from other countries is very long! But now it seems that even a popular Euthanasia pill is available to those who want to “exit” this life peacefully, albeit illegally. According to a report from the Mexican newspaper, Reform AFP, over 200 terminally ill people from Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the United States have visited Mexico since 2001 to purchase the Euthanasia Drug, Nembutol, which is cheap and widely available.  According to the article, Mexico’s 20 or so border towns like Tijuana in California, and Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico, are premier places to find the drug. What’s more disturbing is the fact that the pro-euthanasia group Exit International, based in Australia, is promoting this option and telling those who want to end their lives “peacefully” to consider using Mexico as an option. Exit International is a non-profit organization, founded by Dr. Philip Nitschke, which promotes the peaceful end of life alternative of euthanasia by advocating a pro-choice voluntary euthanasia/ assisted suicide to those who are terminally ill. Nitschke, was the very first doctor to administer a legal lethal voluntary injection under the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act of the Northern Territory in 1996 (the act was short-lived). Nitschke is also the author of, “The Peaceful Pill Handbook,” which disturbing as it sounds is a guide to creating your own suicide pill at home (among other things). The disturbing instructional guide can also be found on YouTube, with some clips showing step-by-step methods to creating the euthanasia pill in one’s own kitchen.  The drug Nembutol is commonly used to put down animals and is widely available throughout Mexico, making it easily accessible to those seeking it out. Add to that convenience, the fact that it is affordable as well at only $20-$40 per 100 ml bottle, and you have a recipe for disaster- in the form of certain death. According to that same Mexican newspaper article, Don Flounders, a 78-year-old British-born retiree, with a deadly form of cancer, traveled from Australia to the Pacific coast town of Tijuana to get the medicine. Flounders told the newspaper that he found a veterinary pharmacy that had a sign advertising “articles for Australians.”  Although the Gorilla understands completely, the need for those who are terminally ill to not prolong their suffering and go out quietly and peacefully, he is still disturbed by those who advocate intentional use of such drugs and methods for profit. They are capitalizing in essence, on others’ unfortunate circumstances, as well as their state of fear and vulnerability.  Should we call them “heroes” or “Doctors of Death,” just as Dr. Jack Kevorkian is called? Currently, the Mexican government is allowing the sale of these “death drugs,” making it official that you truly can buy just about anything in Mexico- even death in pill form, which in the Gorilla’s opinion, is truly sad!