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Your comment brings up the most relevant point against MAID and it's clear we can be a better society than one which pushes people over the edge, or let's them fall despite their pleas.

I too am glad that you managed to fuck it up and that you're here with us.

Glad you pushed through this.

As someone with a disability, this is one of my biggest fears: Social pressure to seek assisted suicide.

"Addicted to drugs? Sounds like you want to die. Here, we'll help."

WCGW?

2024: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for people who are late on their rent"
2025: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for unhoused persons"
2026: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for ~~social parasites~~ the disabled"
2027: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for adults and children with autism"
2028: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for those suffering from the effects of institutionalized racism"
2029: "Canada has approved medically assisted death for any First Nations, black, non-land-owning, or poor people who aren't already dead yet, and it's optional through 2030"

It's Canada. We aren't the smiling plucky canucks that the international community thinks we are. We're tired, boss. We have some of the worst incidence rates for opioid addiction in the world, the most expensive real estate, politicians that actually don't do anything except self-deal and play culture war games, a massive overpopulation crisis, a jobs crisis, a grocery cost crisis (all told, they call it a cost of living crisis). They literally invented MAID so that people with terminal cancer can take the painless path out, but now it's being discussed for literally anyone who is feeling mentally unwell.

Given that the intent here is to make assisted suicide legal for people who by definition are not of sound mind what protections are in place for people who would qualify for assisted suicide by way of mental health issues but also might not be fully competent to make this decision themselves? Who can step in and say that the patient actually is competent, and by what standards is that judged? Who can step in and say a patient that wants assisted suicide is not competent, or has been manipulated? I'm not worried about people who are genuinely suffering, the fact is we've never been able to stop them from killing themselves and we never will be. I'm worried about someone putting poison in the ear of someone with a treatable disorder, convincing them to "do the right thing and not be a burden".

Good to see at least someone around here has some fucking clue regarding the purpose of this law...

1. Just "feeling mentally unwell", as another commenter put it, is not enough to qualify. The law specifically requires the applicant "experience unbearable physical or mental suffering from your illness, disease, disability or state of decline that cannot be relieved under conditions that you consider acceptable" and "be in an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed"
2. If someone makes a "request for medical assistance in dying, 2 independent medical practitioners (physicians or nurse practitioners) must assess it."

From: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/medical-assistance-dying.html

And that's just a couple of the high bars one must clear to qualify.

But, I can say this about Lemmy: given the quality of the discussion on this post, this place really has turned into an excellent replacement for Reddit!

The article says that the mentally ill also get this option.

Getting addicted to drugs isn't exactly an insurmountable barrier

This article seems to be pushing the conservative narrative. They make a leap from mental health to eugenics, which is a stretch. I call BS

Denying the people the right to die with dignity is a sick perversion of morals.

Because the conditions applied always seem to be revolving around removing undesirables within Canada. This example makes people fear that Canadian hospital workers will begin pressuring drug addict patients to kill themselves, or even darker, signing them up for euthanasia without their knowing or consent.

Addiction isn’t a condition which can, generally speaking, be cured. It’s a chronic condition and is often genetic. While many choose a lifetime of treatment, it’s a constant struggle, and the quality of life varies widely.

Most of the homeless I see are tweaking.
It seems like they're solving the housing crisis in the most dystopian way possible

I just don't know how I feel about it. They do go through an assessment before they're allowed to end their life this way. Maybe if you really want to die because your life is just generally unbearable, you should be allowed to? I get that there are methods to beat addiction, but they don't always work. If you just can't stop smoking meth and you just can't live that way anymore, maybe let that person die like they want to? I honestly don't know if those are yes answers for me.

Yes, it does. People addicted to drugs have mental issues: addiction. That will warp their judgement. Medically-assisted dying is something that needs to be legal. But the doctors involved need to be sure that the dying properly consents and that is going to be MUCH harder when they have to judge it through a lens of addition.

To me this reads just shy of saying medically assisted dying is now legal for people with mental health issues. Which would 100% be compared to what the Nazis did to the mentally and physically disabled.

Agreed. Medically-assisted suicide cannot be offered to anyone who doesn't have all of the health care they need without bankrupting themselves. Therefore I don't think it's ethical to ever offer it in a country where health care is a financial transaction for the patient.

Otherwise the government might as well be handing the patient a huge bill in the left hand and a gun in the right.