In France, the public debate about the legalisation of assisted suicide, is raging. In December 2021, psychiatrists published a study that reconsidered the role of psychiatrists in dealing with requests for medical aid in dying. The study was based on 127 articles obtained mostly from Pubmed and Cairn, from 1997 to 2020 in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and Oregon. It emphasized that an in-depth visit with a psychiatrist should be provided in all cases, given that the most prevalent reasons for a request to die are “spirituality, attachment style, social isolation, despair, depression […]. Factors, such as a doctor’s qualifications, influence the psychiatric evaluation and can obscure the motivations that lead a person to request assisted suicide.
Publisher
French Council of State Rejects Dignitas’ Appeal (France)
In December 2021 Dignitas, a Swiss organisation that promotes “the right to die with dignity”, submitted a Preliminary Question of Constitution (PQC) countering the ban of pentobarbital in France. Pentoparbital is used in Switzerland and Belgium for assisted suicide. On 21 December 2021 the French Council rejected the proposal highlighting the risks of pentobarbital to public healthcare.
Dignitas prides itself on its role in having assisted suicide recognised by the German and Austrian constitutional courts; it attempted to archive this in France, but thus far failed. It’s website explicitly criticises France for its suicide prevention policy; indicating the association’s ideology to strive to impose its deadly practices in foreign countries.
So-called ‘Gold Standard’ Abortion Pill Regimen Causes Serious Adverse Reactions (Canada)
A summary of spontaneously reported adverse reactions from the so called “gold standard “ abortion pill regimen shows numerous reports of serious events resulting in hospitalization. Reports of life threatening sepsis, numerous reports of haemorrhaging and numerous failed abortions were among the findings. The report released by The Canada Vigilance Program, concerns the abortion pill regimen Mifegymiso, the name used in Canada for the combined use of Mifepristone and Misoprostol. The report highlights the fact that the adverse reactions were reported on a voluntary basis. Health Canada also released a 195 page adverse events report on Mifigymiso, some of which is documented on the blog of pro-life blogger Patricia Maloney.
Submission for Road Accidents SA (Press Release)
To whom it may concern
Reason for this presentation
This presentation has been compiled by Doctors for Life International out of concern regarding ramifications arising from the legalisation of Cannabis. The concern is founded on the scientific and medical fact that most drugs active in the central nervous system, including cannabis, have an impairment potential and therefore pose a road safety threat. It is essential that regulations are drafted, and parameters placed before the legislature for deliberation, to avoid a spike in intoxication-related traffic incidents and ensure that our roads remain safe.
DISCUSSION:
Drug levels and their effects on different tissue types:
Cannabis blood drug levels in occasional users and chronic users (Toennes et al., 2008) showed an initial cannabis half-life of 30 minutes. The half-life of Cannabis has a complex overlay of different clearance rates, but after 8 hours, the clearance is considerably slower, particularly in heavy users of Cannabis.
Cannabis is absorbed from the lungs. It is redistributed and diluted into the entire blood pool. Simultaneously all other elimination routes start working. Kidney elimination is the fastest initial elimination route and is blood level dependant. Such elimination decreases. Liver and other routes become more important. Because heavy usage damages the liver, elimination slows and consequently drug levels are considerably higher after eight hours in heavy users than in casual, intermittent users.
Brain levels of cannabis are 2-3 times higher than blood levels (Heustis et al., 1992). This is due to accumulation in fat. The brain fatty substance is responsible for insulation around the nerve cell fibres as myelin sheaths. It may then have a profound effect on brain function. This means that blood levels may approximate, but do not accurately reflect brain levels. These levels may therefore still be high enough to cause impairment whilst the blood levels may seem safe.
When cannabis damages the liver, elimination will inevitably become slower and this affects elimination negatively, including in the brain. For most drugs that redistribute to fat, elimination is slow due to the relative lack of blood flow to fat. This accumulation is not limited to the fat in the brain but occurs in the entire body.
The effect in each patient is drug level dependant. The higher the levels, the more effect it has.
Effects of legalisation of cannabis in other countries
In an address delivered (February 2022) before the Virginia General Assembly, by Prof Bertha Madras (MD), Professor of Psychobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School she stated that in states where cannabis is legal, an increase in traffic deaths was observed. Her literature review found that cannabis is the most identified drug in deadly vehicle accidents, and it doubles drivers’ chances of being involved in an accident. The reason is that cannabis impairs judgement and many other skills needed for safe driving, e. g., alertness, concentration, coordination, and reaction time. cannabis makes it difficult to judge distances and to react timeously.
The ACOG should reconsider fetal pain (America)
There is increasing evidence to show that a foetus may feel pain as early as 12 weeks gestation. Currently the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), “Facts are Important”, states that foetal pain cannot occur before 24 weeks gestation. Updated findings, particularly from two studies done in 2016, suggest that subcortical structures develop much earlier than 24 weeks and are enough for perception of pain. The ACOG’s “Facts are Important” does not reflect these studies and has not been updated since 2013. The Charlotte Lozier Institute recommends the ACOG makes several revisions.
Exposure to job-related violence among young female prostitutes (Nigeria)
In Nigeria, many young girls are engaged in commercial prostitution as a means of livelihood and support of dependent relatives. Although studies have documented some of the violence related issues among commercial prostitutes, the plight of adolescent and young prostitutes particularly in urban slums may be different in context and depth. This study explored the experiences of violence and health related harm among vulnerable young female prostitutes in urban slums in Ibadan and Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. It also analysed their coping strategies and survival mechanisms. Young female prostitutes aged 15–24 years who reported having experienced violence were recruited for the study. Twelve participants completed the interviews out of the 20 initially contacted. The study was conducted in brothels of two selected slum areas in Ibadan and Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. The results showed that the major motivation for engaging in commercial sex work was for economic reasons. However, there are inherent risks involved particularly for the vulnerable young people. Stigmatization from the community, clients’ uncontrolled-aggressive behaviour and harassment from law enforcement agents are some of the frequent violence experiences reported. Self-help coping strategies are usually employed to prevent or mitigate the challenges. The plight of these young people requires policy and program attention towards alternative economic empowerment to rehabilitate those willing to leave the profession. Also the need to develop arm reduction interventions towards protection of young prostitutes against violence.
About 90 people go missing (South Africa)
Missing Children South Africa said, it roughly records between 60 to 90 missing people cases per month. The daughter of the former Economic Freedom Fighters secretary-general has also been reported missing. It is understood that she was last seen at a retail store with her daughter. Her 3 year old child was found the same day stranded on the street. Reporting missing cases as soon as possible is essential as the first 24 to 48 hours are crucial particularly when a child goes missing. Human trafficking has escalated in South Africa and it is now being declared as a human trafficking hub by the US department of state”.
Proposed online safety bill poses threats to prostitutes (UK)
The UK Parliament received a bill proposition about the regulation of “harmful” online content which will target the safety of prostitutes. The internet has given prostitutes an opportunity to safely practice their occupation without the dangers of in-person work. A 2018 U.K. research showed that online prostitution is actually a safer method, as it revealed that only 5% of prostitutes surveyed had experienced physical assault in the last year. To put things into perspective, there’s a 45% to 75% chance prostitutes will experience violence throughout their careers. With this new proposed law, tech companies will be financially penalised for allowing the advertisement of prostitution on their platforms, and they could face jail time.
Pornography is harmful and we need a new public health approach to it – as with alcohol and tobacco (UK)
Sophia Worringer, a parliamentary researcher, claims that pornography is harmful and must be treated with a public health approach. She asks the question, if pornography was not harmful as some people claim, why then did the Parish incident (Member of Parliament watching porn) spark such a public outpouring. Many women feel threatened when hearing that pornography has been viewed in their presence because they know the degrading and damaging nature of its essence. It is also difficult to separate the expansion of the multi-billion dollar pornography industry from the trafficking of young women and children around the world. Pornographic online videos open the door for exploitation and abuse. Pornography is not passive. It changes expectations of sex, removes sex from consenting loving relationships, and rewires your brain meaning you are always wanting more.
Assisted suicide laws increase suicide rates, especially among women (UK)
Posner argued: People who have no immediate wish to die by suicide get reassurance from knowing that they can exercise the option of suicide at some point in the future. The study used data from ten US states that implemented an assisted suicide law up to the end of 2019. Assisted suicide laws increase overall suicide rates by about 18% and for women the increase is 40%. Assisted suicide results in an increase in unassisted suicides by about 6% and amongst women there is a 13% increase in unassisted suicides. Some argue that these results show assisted suicide empowers women to take control over end-of-life decisions. However, the alternative view is that they are disempowered and become more vulnerable to social pressures and therefore opt for suicide.