A retired psychologist has been found guilty of supplying an anti-nausea drug which is used in conjunction with a suicide powder known as substance X.

Wim van Dijk was given a six months suspended sentence and ordered to do 40 hours community service for breaking laws on the sale of medicines. The public prosecutor had called for a 12 month jail term, six suspended.

The court agreed that Van Dijk, who is 80, had distributed the drug domperidone, which is an “essential part of a set with substance X, as a suicide aid”. He was not prosecuted for providing the suicide powder.

Van Dijk “repeatedly applied his own moral frameworks instead of adhering to democratically drafted legislation” the court said. “At the same time, he has since stopped providing substance X kits and has instead worked towards drafting legislation,” the court said in its ruling.

Van Dijk told the Volkskrant in an interview in 2021 that he had not only supplied the anti nausea drug, but that he had provided substance X to more than 100 people.

Supplying substance X is not a crime in itself, but can be considered a criminal offence if people die as a result of taking it. The public prosecution department said it had found no evidence this had happened.

Earlier this year two members of the right to die group Coöperatie Laatste Wil were found guilty of supplying substance X and information about how to use it. Both were given suspended jail terms. Four other suspects were acquitted.

Van Dijk is is the chairman of a different right to die foundation and a campaigner for changes to the current law on euthanasia. He began his campaign after his wife died from dementia in a closed nursing home unit.

Although euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, under six strict conditions, it can only be carried out by a doctor. In all other cases, assisting suicide is illegal.