People will always find a way to kill themselves. Lots of ways to kill yourself with things in your own house.

Punishing people for attempting or committing suicide is pointless. People shouldn’t be encouraged to commit suicide. For most people the desire to do that will pass and they will find joy again in their lives. Suicide doesn’t only affect the person who dies, the people who knew them are affected mainly. The ones who lose a loved person and of course those who have to clean up the mess left behind.

Assisted suicide is a bit more complicated. People might be pressured into suicide by their family members or society so they are no longer a burden. The worst version of this is commercially available assisted suicide that makes a profit. Imagine literal „kill yourself“ advertisements offering services where they get rich the more people off themselves. Chatbots messaging depressed folks and nudging them towards suicide. There have been cults that committed ritualistic mass suicides. I don’t think these are good for society. So there needs to be pretty strict regulations around this.

A friend of mine wanted to kill himself. What stopped him was the idea that if you have nothing to live for, find something worth dying for. He’s now an adventurer and explorer in extreme environments. For a while he also considered joining the Ukrainian foreign legion. A glorious heroic death doing something worthwhile is not the worst idea. If you don’t die, you will feel more alive than ever.