Assisted Suicide — An Australian Adventure

Don Flounders (78 years old) who is a resident of the state of Victoria in Australia suffers from mesothelioma.  He is very interested in assisted suicide but such is illegal here.  Thus, Don traveled to Mexico in early February to purchase Nebutal, a lethal drug which is considered a Class I drug just like heroin.  He also intended to purchase a dose for his dying friend, Angie Belecciu.  See Andrea Petrie, Dying man risks jail to by euthanasia drug, The Age, March 4, 2008, at 7.

Yesterday (March 5, 2008), Angie was in bed when the Australian Federal Police arrived to raid her house to located the Nebutal dose which Don had allegedly purchased for her.  Angie, however, is not upset at the police officers.  As four officers “opened draws, squeezed teddy bears and looked in her washing machine,” another officer made her coffee and visited with her.  The officers did not locate the illegal drug.  See Dan Oakes, A different sort of death knock, The Age, March 6, 2008, at 11.