UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS FROM THE ARCHIVES

Dear reader,

For years, a Mississauga man named Kenneth Law sold suicide kits online, allegedly facilitating the deaths of at least 100 people around the world. Law was arrested by Peel Regional Police in May of 2023 and has been in custody ever since. He’s facing 14 counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of counselling or aiding suicide related to deaths in Ontario.

When Law stands trial in January, his will be one of the largest murder cases ever seen in the province. The prosecution will be complicated by Canada’s MAID laws as well as Law’s own assertion that he’s not responsible for what people chose to do with the legal substances he was selling.

Meanwhile, the story continues to unfold outside of Canada. This week, as British authorities investigate two more deaths allegedly linked to Law’s kits, we’re revisiting Luc Rinaldi’s haunting 2023 feature “Merchant of Death.”

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—Madi Haslam
Digital editor

MERCHANT OF DEATH

After Kenneth Law lost his job as a low-level cook at the Royal York hotel, he found another way to make money: peddling suicide kits on the internet. Now, he’s been linked to the deaths of more than 100 people around the world—and their grieving families want justice

BY LUC RINALDI | OCTOBER 31, 2023

Sodium nitrite is a fine white salt. The powder is legal, unregulated and not particularly hard to find, but in large high-purity doses, it can be lethal. A few years ago, mentions of the substance began appearing on websites across the internet where people discuss suicide. In 2020, Kenneth Law, a Mississauga man who had recently declared bankruptcy, saw a business opportunity. He set up several online storefronts to sell 50-gram packets of the substance. For nearly three years, Law sold multiple kits a day to customers around the world. By the time he was apprehended by police, he’d been linked to the deaths of more than 100 people.

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