Australians to Make Suicide Pill

The controversial Australian euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has announced plans for a suicide pill which could be manufactured at home from easily available ingredients.

The proposed "peaceful pill" would consist of a small dose of liquid barbiturates which could be kept until its owner wanted to take his or her life.

A group of 30 people in their 70s will meet at an undisclosed location in rural Australia early next year to manufacture 300 grams of the barbiturate. This will then be divided into 30 10g doses which the individuals will take home with them - perhaps for use at a later date.

The participants also plan to publish a handbook to help other groups follow their lead. Barbiturates are no longer sold in Australia but there is no law that prevents their manufacture.

Dr Nitschke has been a controversial figure since he helped four people die after the world's first euthanasia laws were passed in Australia's Northern Territory in 1996.

Those laws were quickly struck down by the federal government, and Dr Nitschke has turned to offering advice and information on euthanasia through his group Exit International.

He holds regular workshops around Australia. The move to a suicide pill has been planned for some years, but is being rushed through because of the prospect of legislation which would outlaw much of Exit's work.

The new laws would levy fines of up to A$120,000 (almost £50,000) for providing people with information about how to kill themselves. They have been held up because of opposition from members of the Australian senate, but the government won control of the upper house in last month's elections and it will have the numbers to pass the legislation when the new senate sits in May.

Dr Nitschke is unlikely to attend the pill manufacturing session next year for fear of prosecution; he believes that prosecutors, faced with the public relations nightmare of putting 30 elderly people in the dock, will not pursue charges against them. Tim Coyle, spokesman for the Right to Life Association Queensland, said the information would soon be used by adolescents wanting to commit suicide.

"In practice it's going to be used by anyone who wants to commit suicide," he said.

But Dr Nitschke said: "We are talking about a very sophisticated process. It's not the sort of thing that you can throw together in your back yard."