If you're wondering how fun this could get, here's an article from the National Post arguing that poverty should be a qualifier for assisted suicide

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-medical-aid-in-dying

Here's another where a woman with sensitivities to various chemical smells chose to die because she couldn't find an apartment that was affordable and didn't reek of noxious chemicals

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/woman-with-chemical-sensitivities-chose-medically-assisted-death-after-failed-bid-to-get-better-housing-1.5860579

The people who are worried about this aren't worried about people who genuinely want to die committing suicide. It was always nearly impossible to stop them anyway, and there's no way to change that. What we're worried about is people being pushed toward MAID because they've been systemically denied things they need to live that are absolutely available. We're worried about mentally ill people being told "do the right thing, don't be a burden" when they want to live. We're worried about suicide becoming the answer to problems that are caused by social and legislative conditions. We're worried about becoming the kind of society where, rather than help one another, it's expected that anyone who needs help just off themselves.

This is all coming from someone who tried twice and will be eternally grateful that I managed to fuck it up both times.

This just sounds like a convenient way to get rid of homeless people

Wow that’s… actually kinda fucked.

will be expanded next March to give access to people whose sole medical condition is mental illness, which can include substance use disorders.

So not drug use, but mental health conditions which the government considers drug addiction to be.

This will never be used by a drug addict. It will be used by people with untreatable and severe schizophrenia or similar afflictions. If you don't want to live in a nightmare world with no hope I think it should be your right to end it peacefully.

I get suicide makes people uncomfortable, but you're uncomfortable with it in a cozy apartment and good health. You think your protecting vulnerable people from a big scary government, but you're just forcing them to suffer needlessly.

It is a bit unfair that only drug addicts get this. Assisted suicide should be available for the general population.

This feels very click-baity. As far as I can tell, the assisted suicide law is being extended to include people in unbearable pain from mental health problems, not just physical ones. Because substance abuse is classified as a mental health problem, people with drug addictions would have the right to request assisted suicide under this extension to the law.

The objections being raised speak to the same fears many disabled people have about legalising assisted suicide: that people struggling with their health might be, or feel, pressured to end it for the convenience of others, not because it is the best thing for themselves. I assume that the existing law attempts to address this properly, with safeguards against external pressures.

Assisted suicide is most valuable for people who do not have the physical capacity to do it themselves, and do not want to put a loved one at risk of a murder charge. In practice, most people with a serious drug problem can quite easily end it themselves if they want to. Access to assisted suicide doesn't seem particularly likely to change much, except perhaps offer a more peaceful, dignified death for those who want it anyway.

Honestly just seems like a tee up so the government can "persuade" these people to kill themselves. It's a bold strategy, Cotton.

Could be a dry run for when life gets so bad in the next few years that people just look for the exit.

"Kill em all". Canadian here. Disabled folks like myself have been taking this route for a while now simply because they can't afford to live any longer. That's pretty fucked. Canada doesn't want anything to do with us or the "junkies". They'd rather we die.

The government: Can’t function well enough to perform tasks that increase the GDP? We have a drug for that.

Why is there always such a shitshow when it comes to these laws? In Switzerland we have EXIT which is also assisted suicide. Nobody cares that it exists, it is just a reasonable system.

That sounds fucked-up, no? Is it an uncureable condition?

Canada is several months away from medically assisted "suicide" for people who don't support currently elected politicians

I do hate this, but at least dying is not an illegal thing to do to oneself, but at the same time, I don't want people to die, even if they decided to. On top of that, there has to be a better way to deal with addiction than allowing someone to just die. Plus, there is a stupid loophole brewing where people who decide not to die could be documented as wanting to die by some powerful individuals. All around, a bad thing to legalize and the administrative problems it would bring

I'd be worried that this will be used as a screen to kill "undesirables" without scrutiny.

Lord have mercy. Canada has lost their minds.

This feels like it crosses a line.

Just roll out the suicide booths already

This opens some uncomfortable doors for people who have a severe negative and abusive view towards drug addicts.

For the last two months I’ve been seriously considering taking my own life. What holds me back is that I’ll severely fuck up my loving family, my mum, dad and brothers and my girlfriend/ex-girlfriend (it’s complicated). It would hurt them so much. If it wasn’t for them I would have already done it.

So what I want to know is why shouldn’t I just end my 33 year old Swedish life right now when there’s just too much stuff to battle. Before I wanted to battle my way through this. But I can’t take this anymore. I’ve never posted something like this before. Sorry everyone. I don’t know why I did it.