Oregon has become America's first 'death tourism' destination, where terminally ill people from Texas and other states that have outlawed assisted suicide have started travelling to get their hands on a deadly cocktail of drugs to end their lives, DailyMail.com can reveal.
In the liberal bastion Portland, at least one clinic has started receiving out-of-staters who have less than six months to live and meet the other strict requirements of the state's Death with Dignity (DWD) law.
Dr Nicholas Gideonse, the director of End of Life Choices Oregon, recently told a panel that he was advising terminally ill non-residents on travelling to Oregon to end their lives, despite a legal gray area.
Dr Gideonse, an advocate of 'magic mushroom' therapy, said he was helping a Texan man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease and a hospice patient on the East Coast, but added that there were not yet 'tons of people coming from all over'.
'But for a small number of patients who otherwise qualify or are determined to go through that and who have the energy and the resources … it has started to happen,' he said.
Dr Nicholas Gideonse, an advocate of 'growing magic mushrooms mushroom' therapy, has led the charge for Oregon to become the first US state that allows terminally ill non-residents to come and end their lives
Oregon, California and Washington are among the US states with so-called medical aid in dying laws. Here, Robert Fuller, a cancer sufferer, takes a fatal dose of doctor-prescribed drugs in Seattle in 2019
Out-of-state residents must be able to spend at least 15 days in Oregon to process the paperwork, which requires sign-offs from two doctors and witnesses, before administering the fatal dose themselves, says the clinic's website.
Dr Gideonse and the clinic operate in a legal gray zone — the state last year agreed to extend access to doctor-assisted suicide to out-of-staters, but this is not expected to be codified into law until later this year.
But, America's first 'death tourism' destination throws up tough legal questions for family members who may help a loved one reach Oregon from a prohibitionist state. They could face arrest or even be prosecuted in their home state as a result.
For critics, Oregon's nascent 'death tourism' industry, and efforts to create another in Vermont, show how the US is on a slippery slope to following in Canada's footsteps — where lax rules have allowed people with so little as hearing loss to be euthanized.
While US assisted suicide rules are comparatively strict and help some desperately sick people end their agony, critics say they also devalue human life and make deadly drugs a solution for the infirm, disabled and even those who are cash-strapped or feel like a burden.