For the first time in more years than I can count, I actually bought a newspaper. Surprisingly, I actually found a story that made my jaw drop.

Our neighboring states are all changing. Colorado has fully legalized cannabis. Oklahoma has legalized medical cannabis, changed liquor laws, and awarded Jason Mewes, of "Jay and Silent Bob" fame, for his contributions to entertainment and for being an inspiration when it comes to battling addiction.

A story recently ran that New Mexico is taking up the debate on physician assisted suicide, or as a less jarring way of putting it, euthanasia.

The piece states that in New Mexico, lawmakers are mulling over making physician assisted suicide available to patients who are are terminally ill.

I can't remember the last time reading a newspaper actually made me stop and take an introspective look into my own feelings on life and death.

I remember the era of, and outrage over, Dr. Jack Kevorkian. In fact, it's tough to hear the terms "physician assisted suicide," or euthanasia, and not think of "Doctor Death."

Several years later after watching members of my own family barely exist (much less live and thrive on life support as the life support and morphine kept them in a pretty  vegetative state), I wonder if they would have wanted the option.

It's tough for those of us who are stuck on the sidelines watching our loved ones near the end. It's tough to say goodbye. It's tough to accept. But do we, the healthy and the living, get the final say?

There has also been a lot of work in the past several years, with bullying becoming a major topic, to address suicide and provide help for those who find no more value in life.

Would legalizing physician assisted suicide walk-back any progress we've made in fighting suicide on a cultural level? It almost seems hypocritical in a way. What if they find a cure? What if you were about to make a turn for the better?

There is no clear answer. There can't be. There will always be a hypothetical where physician assisted suicide seems like a viable choice, or where saying no to it would be the right choice.

For now, thank you to the newspaper for giving me something to have an existential and moral crisis over. I guess I'll have to form an opinion of my own at the end of the road.

 

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