Suicide drug supplier gets 3.5 years in prison for violating assisted suicide law

On Tuesday, the court in Den Bosch sentenced Alex S. to 3.5 years in prison, 1.5 years of which was conditionally suspended, for supplying the suicide drug X. According to prosecutors, at least ten people to whom he provided the drug took their own lives, meaning he violated the law against assisted suicide. S. allegedly sent the drug to at least 1,600 people.

The court criticized S. for sending packages containing the suicide drug by post “on a large scale” for three years. “You asked no questions and delivered when required,” said the court's chairman. “You are not a doctor and not authorized to provide this medicine.” According to the judge, S. has “taken the law into his own hands.”

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded four years in prison against the 30-year-old man from Eindhoven, the maximum possible However, the court weight in S.'s favor that he has reduced accountability and was not out to make money by providing the substance.

Nevertheless, the court "wants to make it clear to everyone that this cannot be done with impunity," the judge said. "You have been instrumental in the deaths of ten people, and that could potentially increase by a factor of 169," the chairman told S. "There is a large amount of the deadly drug in society." The scale of this case is "huge," he stressed.

The OM wanted a strict sentence and conviction that sends a signal that assisted suicide outside what is permitted under the euthanasia law “cannot remain unpunished, even if it is done with the best of intentions.” Prosecutors had demanded four years in prison during their argument.

At least ten of the people who received the drug from S. went on to commit suicide, the Public Prosecution Service alleged during the trial. The prosecutor said S. was guilty of assisted suicide in violation of the law. Suspicions against S. ran deeper, and the ten cases brought up in court were those in which the most evidence was available. During the hearing, the prosecutor noted that the actual number of deaths may be higher and may also increase in the future.

The suspect allegedly sent the drug to at least 1,600 people. In 30 cases, the police discovered that these people had transferred money to the suspect when they were still alive.

It is the first criminal case involving Drug X. The lethal drugs he sent by post are not prohibited, but S. should not have supplied people who intended to use the drug to end their lives. In addition, S. also supplied antiemetic medication, which is not permitted without a permit. This prevented people from vomiting after ingesting the fatal dose.

S. himself argued that he wanted to help people die in a humane way. His lawyer said that investigators have not proven that those people who died from Drug X did not receive it from another source.

Also, people who want to die could have found other ways to end their lives. “Whatever you think of the drug, it has prevented much worse in a number of situations.” S. was referring to other forms of suicide, which he says are more gruesome than taking a deadly drug. Furthermore, the defense argued that S. was not someone who wanted to earn “as much money as possible” with Drug X.

However, the OM said that S. earned tens of thousands of euros with his trade. That was a form of money laundering, according to the Public Prosecution Service.