Considering how prevalent suicide is as a global cause of death, you might think we’d talk about it more. There’s a reason we don’t. When suicides are reported in the media, others follow – in essence, it’s a contagion. As such, major media outlets have very strict rules as to how they cover cases. It’s responsible journalism.
The flipside of these well-intentioned, sensible rules is that a problem affecting a significant proportion of the population gets pushed aside, swept under the rug, and, as a result, stigmatized. There’s an inherent loneliness to being suicidal that makes it seem like nobody can help. Talking about "catching the bus" – a term those affected use to describe the act – still feels taboo, and so turning to an online suicide forum can seem justifiable. But if that forum also gives a vulnerable person the tools to end their life, is anyone culpable?
It’s from that point of view that CBC’s Hunting The Suicide Salesman, hosted by veteran reporter Daemon Fairless, arrives.
Disclaimer: With that all in mind, before listening to Hunting the Suicide Salesman or reading this review, please be aware that both deal with themes of suicide in great detail. If you are struggling with your mental health, you can reach out to Samaritans, speak to a friend or family member, or call the emergency services in your place of residence.
In the first episode we meet Catherine and Melanie, the mother and sister-in-law of Joe Nihill. Joe died from deliberate exposure to a very pure dose of sodium nitrite in 2020. The two women discover Joe frequented an online suicide forum where members support each other in their attempts to end their lives. In his final notes to them, Joe asked that the forum be taken down, and Catherine and Melanie have since dedicated themselves to achieving his wish.
Through this controversial forum, the story introduces us to other grieving families who have also lost loved ones – namely young men – to suicide via sodium nitrite.
By episode two, this narrative thread leads Fairless to the case of Kenneth Law, a Canadian man with an online business intentionally selling sodium nitrite in fatal amounts to suicidal customers. Fairless follows the trail from the UK to Canada, piecing together Law's life through his turbulent career, post-Covid money troubles, and finally to his successful "business" selling alleged suicide aids on the internet. It's a wild and distressing chase that reminds us of the recent BBC podcast series World of Secrets: The Darkest Web.
Though Law is implicated in around 145 deaths across 41 countries, with over 1,200 shipments sent, according to the podcast's network CBC, and considered by many to be a mass murderer, he hasn't actually killed anyone face-to-face. This puts his case in uncharted territory.
Without spoiling how Law's trial concludes, that he even faced charges means he’s been subject to significantly higher penalties than Amazon. The website is alleged to have facilitated the sale of many more doses of the fatal drug, despite numerous grieving parents begging them to take it off their website (they eventually did, after 18 months). In a podcast that’s upsetting by its very nature, the battle in Episode 4 to stop the corporate behemoth from selling suicide drugs is the bleakest instalment of them all.
The way that these huge legal cases are balanced with the tragic stories of individuals is a large part of what makes Hunting The Suicide Salesman so engaging. But it is still one of the most difficult listens this year.
Much of our distress stems from the testimonies of those using the forum. It’s easy to understand how, in the lonely headspace of suicidal ideation, being able to speak to others going through the same illness online could offer potentially life-saving comfort. As one user writes, “Still hanging in there because people like me exist.”
But does that negate that the forum also has the potential to push those teetering on the brink of the abyss over the edge? Fairless acknowledges both ideas at the same time without casting judgement. His approach is consistently impressive and his hesitancy to jump to a quick answer even extends to Law’s case. Further complexity is added when another bereaved mother casts scepticism over Law's level of blame, saying, “You can just go to the store and buy bullets and get a gun”. In other words: Law is no more culpable than those store owners.
Late in the series, a woman named Emma expresses the hope that Law be convicted because she doubts that she would have made her attempt without him. After we hear her speak, Fairless tragically discloses that she made a fatal attempt following that interview.
There are no simple answers to the question of suicide, and Hunting The Suicide Salesman never patronises the listener by pretending that there are.
If there’s anything approaching a conclusion here, it’s the research that indicates that people often attempt suicide on an impulse, and if they can wait that impulse out, they may not try again. However, as the show acknowledges, there’s no guarantee. Fairless notes a number of cases where suicide numbers have dropped considerably in areas where barriers have been erected at jumping hotspots. He posits that Law’s major moral crime was the figurative dismantlement of a major barrier between his desperate consumers and their tragic, unnecessary ends.
Does that make the "Suicide Salesman" a murderer?
Talking about suicide is a difficult thing to do. Fairless and his sensitive, thought-provoking podcast make a convincing case that it’s still extremely worthwhile.
