The Canadian government is preparing to legalise euthanasia for drug-addicts as early as next year, in a step being labelled by some as ‘eugenics.’

In March 2024, Canada’s laws around eligibility for the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) programme are due to shift, allowing patients with mental problems and drug addictions to seek an assisted suicide. A parliamentary committee is due to examine the expansion in the next few months.

Canada’s Assisted Suicide laws are among the most liberal in the world. Having been introduced in 2016, use of them has expanded to such a large extent that now 36 people are euthanised every single day. Canadian government data indicates that more people have died since 2016 having accessed their assisted suicide programme than died from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A scientific conference in Canada this week has been discussing how to assess whether a drug addict has a legitimate right to an assisted suicide or not.

Leading advocate, Dr David Martell, physician lead for Addictions Medicine at Nova Scotia Health, has said: “I don't think it's fair, and the government doesn't think it's fair, to exclude people from eligibility because their medical disorder or their suffering is related to a mental illness.

“As a subset of that, it's not fair to exclude people from eligibility purely because their mental disorder might either partly or in full be a substance use disorder. It has to do with treating people equally.”

In response, drug users and harm reduction advocates have suggested improving access to overdose prevention sites, and increased housing and job opportunities, in order to combat drug addictions.

One such advocate, Zoe Dodd, commented:

“I just think that MAID, when it has entered the area around mental health and substance use, is really rooted in eugenics. There are people who are really struggling around substance use and people do not actually get the kind of support and help they need.”