Editor’s note: If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health there are a number of ways to get help, including by calling Talk Suicide Canada at 1-833-456-4566. A list of local crisis centres is also available here.
Although Mississauga resident Kenneth Law, 57, has recently made headlines for allegedly selling sodium nitrite for the purpose of suicide, Internet records show a much wider array of wares for sale for implied purposes of self-harm.
The Times of London first reported earlier this week that seven deaths by suicide, including four in the U.K. and three in the U.S., had been linked to Law.
On Tuesday, Peel Regional Police said Law had been arrested and charged with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide. In their release, police provided a list of businesses and websites said to be associated with Law, adding that at least 1,200 packages had been shipped worldwide. Police said Law’s arrests were motivated by his alleged online sales of sodium nitrite, a food additive which can be fatal if consumed in large doses.
But a look through his now-defunct websites paints a much darker picture.
Businesses associated with Law included “Imtime Cuisine,” which mostly sold the alleged sodium nitrite, and “Escape Mode.” The latter, as shown in archives kept by the Wayback Machine, had a lengthy list of products for sale before being taken down, including gas masks, flow regulator kits and rubber tubing.
The site contained detailed explanations for how to use the equipment, and also offered phone consultations and plain packaging at a premium.
A screenshot of the site’s contact page shows a digital business card which listed Law’s name as well as a PO Box in Mississauga, an Outlook email address with Law’s initials and a Toronto-area phone number. The site’s about page lists “five core values,” including “to responsibly honour the wishes of our customers independent of social stigma and without judgment.”
Screenshots of testimonials for Escape Mode show dark jokes about suicide. One customer, called simply “Bob,” says “to be able to move from confusion to confidence with [Escape Mode]’s premium solutions offered compassionately is a…Life-Saver – well you get my drift.” One testimonial calls the money spent on the equipment “probably the last $1,000 I’m going to spend.”
The site also offered a discount to repeat customers “as an expression of courtesy.”
On Wednesday, CTV News Toronto spoke to the lawyers for the family of a 17-year-old Detroit boy who died in 2022 after taking sodium nitrite from a website belonging to Law.
According to the lawyers, the boy ingested the compound but shortly had a change of heart.
“It was 3 a.m. and he went running into his mom’s room, screaming and begging to call emergency responders,” New York, N.Y., lawyer Carrie Goldberg told CTV News Toronto.
“[Jones] died in the process of them being able to identify what the risk was,” she said.
Charges against Law have not yet been tested in court.
Law's legal representation did not immediately respond to CP24's request for comment.
“The mental health and well-being of our communities is our main priority,” said Peel Regional Police Deputy Police Chief Marc Andrews on Tuesday. “As such, we will not tolerate actions by those who prey on vulnerable individuals in our community.”
Investigators are asking anyone who either received a package they believe is sodium nitrite or has information about the investigation to call police at 1-888-714-0003 or email 11Divproject@peelpolice.ca.
- with files from CTV Toronto's Jon Woodward
