In September, Bisbee passed a resolution endorsing Aid in Dying for competent, terminally ill adults. Last week, the Tucson City Council unanimously passed a similar memorial.

Does every Arizona municipality have to pass an Aid in Dying resolution before Arizona’s elected lawmakers pass a statute to give people this end of life option?

In every recent poll, a majority of Arizonans were in favor of Death with Dignity laws. Oregon’s law, after which other laws are modeled, has been in effect for over 17 years but relatively few have utilized it.

Simply knowing the option is available brings comfort to thousands in the event everything that medicine and technology have to offer fails to relieve a person’s suffering. Opponent’s false claims that the law will force vulnerable, disabled and minorities into an early death have no basis in fact, as verified yearly by statistics from Oregon and Washington.

Canada and California’s Aid in Dying laws take effect in 2016. Five states allow Death with Dignity and many other states are debating its merits.

Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old with terminal brain cancer, had to move her family to Oregon to use this option. “Having this choice at the end of my life...has given me a sense of peace during a tumultuous time that otherwise would be dominated by fear, uncertainty and pain.”

Aid in Dying is about options for the terminally ill who want to bring some peace in their final days, whether they choose to go this route or not.

We elect lawmakers to pass legislation that benefits the people they serve. Fountain Hills leaders, send a message to the state legislature by adopting an Aid in Dying resolution. Arizona citizens deserve freedom to decide their best death possible.