Suicide rates in Oregon higher than California

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Two co-sponsors of a bill to legalize assisted suicide in California participated in a press conference promoting a bill to create an Office of Suicide Prevention in California.

However, while suicide is a very serious problem in our state, it is an even bigger problem in a state like Oregon that sanctions assisted suicide.

According to Center for Disease Control statistics, between 1999 -- 2004, suicide ranks as a higher cause of death in Oregon than in California. This number could even be higher considering that assisted suicides in Oregon are not recorded as suicides. Oregon has had legal physician-assisted suicide since 1997.

Additionally, the methods of suicides are even more striking. Assisted suicide proponents in California contend that sanctioning this practice in California will reduce the number of violent suicides and replace them with "peaceful" and "dignified" suicides. However, data from the Center for Disease Control and National Center for Health Statistics show the opposite. While suicide by firearm accounts for 46.8 percent of suicides in California, Oregon suicides by firearm rates over the same time period are over 10 percentage points higher.

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