See Mexico and die

KRGV-TV (McAllen, Texas):

A man suspected of an assisted suicide in Mexico pleaded not guilty to drug charges.

Jeff George Ostfeld is accused of smuggling an animal tranquilizer into the U.S. Authorities suspect it was used in the death of Jennifer Malone.

Her body was found in a Nuevo Progreso hotel.

Authorities say Ostfeld was carrying the animal tranquilizer when U.S. officials stopped him at the Progreso International Bridge.

Ostfeld was charged with importing a controlled substance and intent to distribute.

Suicides tend to be rare in Mexico,  and when a foreign tourist dies under any circumstances, it tends to be newsworthy, but this is the first I heard about this particular incident.

In Mexico, you go to the doctor to find out what medication to use, not to obtain permission to use it.  That includes both man and beast… purchasing veterinary medication, like most human medication, does not normally require a prescription.   And, because some animal tranquilizers are fatal to humans, there was something of a scandal when it was discovered that Australians, British and New Zealanders were organizing day trips into Tijuana to purchase these tranquilizers, with the goal of ending their lives.

These buyers were part of some “death with dignity” movement in those countries … mostly elderly, well-heeled people with terminal illnesses (or with spouses with terminal illnesses).  Publicity about these death tourists (and complaints from authorities in their home countries about having to prosecute cancerous grannies) put pressure on Mexican health regulators to crack down on veterinary pharmacists who obviously weren’t selling tranqs for owners of neurotic Great Danes and nervous horses.  Like the guys who hung up signs in their windows saying “Australians Welcome”… ie., buy your one-way ticket here.

Given  Mexican government sensitivity about it’s image abroad, the last thing it wants are tourists planning a one-way trip, and leaving a corpse for the Secretariat of Foreign Relations to deal with.

Although assisted suicide is illegal in Mexico, it’s unlikely to be prosecuted (and patients with terminal illnesses are often left with more than enough medication on hand for any “accidental” overdoses… a friend of mine still had a stash of heroin in her bathroom medicine chest, left behind by the visiting nurse for her grandmother who had died a few months previously of a painful terminal disease).  Or particularly investigated.  This case might be.

First off, it involved not just a United States citizen, but a young woman, with no apparent terminal disease, although she was being treated for severe depression.  Secondly, Ostfeld apparently videotaped the death (which sounds really creepy to me).  The fact that he intended to sell the left-overs (to an Australian and a Brit) — which is what he is being charged with in the United States — plays into the agenda of those who argue that liberalizing drug laws will encourage irresponsible foreigners to create problems in border towns.  And — it goes without saying — the Mexicans resent the idea that Mexico equals drugs and death.