Exhaust other options

Dear Editor:

Why is there even a whisper of talk on expanding medical assistance in dying (MAID) to include mental illness when the government refuses to fund research into the studies of psychotropic drugs such as ketamine, LSD, psilocybin, etc. (drugs that have recently come to the fore as having very promising results in treating those with mental illness)?

If “mental illness” is a criteria to acquire assistance in killing oneself then, surely, all avenues of treatment must be exhausted before allowing the illness to be deemed as sufficient to warrant MAID service.

I assert that all illnesses crossing the threshold for MAID must be thoroughly explored and evaluated and all available and potential treatments must be investigated and attempted before we accept that death is the only appropriate treatment.

Hannah-Joy Lippai,
Arthur