merian's friends cont.

MF (continued from page 1)

very sincere consensus took hold that either Hospice or RLM had come and stolen them. Within minutes, however, the boxes made their way up the freight elevator in the back. Some in attendance claimed that Hospice is opposed to the ballot proposal only because "they would lose business."

MF may have trouble convincing investors that suicide can be sold to the Michigan public. A recent frontpage poll in the Detroit News stated that only 44 percent of Michigan residents support the option of suicide. This means support for suicide has dropped by 20 percent in a matter of years.

"Michigan is already infamous for Jack Kevorkian, the international  personification of assisted suicide," Listing said. "This bill spawns off a

up and it is not required that the individual ingest or return the poison.  The deadly prescription could be used by others.

The questions about the bill persist.  No objective oversight would occur if Michigan enters the suicide club, along with Oregon. And a medical examiner would be prohibited from labeling the death as suicide or killing, regardless of whether the individual actually took the poison, or whether she changed her mind and was force-fed the poison by a family member awaiting a portion of her estate.

"In 1973 people laughed at us when we said that Roe vs. Wade would lead us down the path to an acceptance of suicide," Listing said. "They said it was impossible. And now here we are. Now we have to decide."
Picture

Merian's Friends' Ed Pierce speaks to the media as the suicide group turns in its signatures. On the left, Carol Poenisch looks on.

hundred more Jack Kevorkians, and it uses taxpayer money to do so."

As public perception of Kevorkian became less favorable and more ghoulish, MF has tried to distance itself from the man. But the two are inextricably linked, and Michigan knows too well what this bill means.

"Currently killing is still considered wrong in Michigan," Listing said. "But when you take the stigma off suicide, you allow it to be become imaginable. When suicide becomes imaginable, we have changed culture forever. This bill is not an experiment, it is a path we can never turn back on."

Thirty percent of high school students in America consider ending their lives. Listing said that when they see suicide condoned by their parents and their government, it will be impossible to explain the difference.

"A thing is either wrong or right," Listing said. "If you cause another person to cease living, you have killed. You have ended a life. Let's not get distracted by euphemisms. This is about killing. This bill says it's okay."

The MF bill would allow pharmacists to prescribe poisons. A person other than the ailing individual could go get the poison. There is no follow-

By any means necessary?

Woman threatened with violence by group representative

At her hometown post office, RLM Field Representative Carrie Snyder was threatened with bodily harm by a profane representative of Merian's Friends.

Carrie was visiting the post office, her five-year-old nephew with her.

"My little nephew wasn't really prepared to hear threats and language like that," Carrie said. "For that matter, neither was I. You go to the post office to mail stuff, not to fear for your safety."
Picture

Carrie Snyder

Merian's Friends paid individuals from all over the country to set up in public and private locations and get signatures by any means necessary. Signature-gatherers were consistently escorted off private

property because of offended patrons or for gathering signatures under misleading pretenses.

"He told me, if I was a man, he would fight me and he would hurt me," she said. "He used different words, though. I can't express how threatened I was. I mean, this is my post office, in my hometown."

Carrie said she believed the man was from out of state.

 After she returned home that day, Carrie called the police. The next day, she felt compelled to see whether the man was set up in front of her post office once more. She drove by the post office on her way to the store.

He was there. And once more he threatened her with physical violence.

"The second time he was less subtle," Carrie said, "if that's possible. When people saw him swearing at me and threatening me, I could see some of them walk away from his table."

Looking back on the situation, Carrie said she can see a tendency to solve every problem with violence.

"If someone is sick, they want to give them poison," Carrie said. "If someone disagrees with you, attack them and break bones. Everything about the suicide movement is the opposite of compassion. It is ugly and hateful, and I regret that it ever came into my hometown."
 
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