Internet: Suicide
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to review legislation on (a) aiding and (b) abetting suicide through the (i) online promotion and (ii) sale of lethal substances.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones
It is already an offence to do an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961 where that act is intended to encourage or assist suicide or attempted suicide.
The Government has no plans to review that offence. There are also a number of criminal offences relating to the supply of regulated poisons to the public under the Poisons Act 1972. In addition, the Online Safety Act 2023 requires in-scope services to have proportionate systems and processes in place to prevent users from encountering illegal content via their service. This includes the online sale and promotion of lethal substances and illegal suicide and self-harm content.
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