i am posting this from another blog. I felt to be very compassionate and moving. I hope the author doesn't mind.

My interest was spiked today when I read an article in the SMH about elderly people illegally manufacturing suicide drugs to aid euthanasia. They’re calling for the government to legalise such drugs, in order to give them a peaceful exit from this mortal coil instead of being “forced” to while away their final years in pain, often under the grip of a terminal illness.

Funnily enough, I support the idea of euthanasia in such circumstances, but don’t think the drug should be legalised. I think once you get to that age, well dying with a little dignity and inner peace is far more attractive than extended pain and misery. With more and more people falling into depression, think of the needless deaths around if suicide was as easy and painless as taking a pill.

It worries me that out of the 22,000 or so “murders” by firearms every year in the United States, that more than half of them are “murder suicides”. Let’s face it… there’s nothing easier than an instant death by squeezing your hand. Thankfully in Australia the number of “murder suicides” by firearms is less than 100… I can’t quote the source for these figures right now but I do remember it being published in a relatively reputable journal.

So if such a drug were “available”, who would decide who is “worthy” for the prescription, and who isn’t? That surely isn’t a doctor’s, or a psychiatrist’s call. And if the drug was effective and technically available, what’s to stop it getting into the hands of a young depressed person, wanting to kill themselves needlessly over such trite (in hindsight) matters such as sexuality or loss of faith? With the growing popularity of the emo subculture, and the ferocity of modern lifestyle often resulting in increased depression, my biggest concern is that people will want to end their life well before their time and for reasons that given hindsight they would regret.

It’s not because I don’t empathise with depressed people… I have been there myself and it’s not something I like to talk about, but I’ve stared down the barrel before and thought about how easy it would be to squeeze my hand… those days are thankfully well past, and I just wish I could run up to every person in that situation and give them a big hug and somehow get through to them that nothing is so bad that death is the only answer. And I guess that is the reason why I’m fairly passionate about subject matters such as this… I feel like crying every time I hear that a young person has killed themselves because they couldn’t face up to the world, or that they thought nobody would ever accept them for who they are.

As for the oldies… I doubt they care wether they’re breaking the law when they’re at that point… let them leave this world how they want. Just don’t provide the easy way out… too many people will make the wrong choice!