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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Suicide Aid Sanctions Supported Senators Want Reno To Back Penalties For Doctors

Associated Press

Eight U.S. senators are urging Attorney General Janet Reno to support sanctions for doctors who prescribe lethal medication to assist in patients’ suicides.

Led by Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., the senators said in a letter to Reno that Congress, the Supreme Court and President Clinton are in agreement that doctor-assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical practice as defined by the Controlled Substances Act.

In the Dec. 19 letter obtained by The Oregonian, the senators voiced support for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s opinion that it could penalize doctors who participate in assisted suicide.

Oregon voters have twice approved the nation’s first law that allows terminally ill patients to kill themselves with lethal doses of drugs prescribed by a doctor. The measure first was approved in 1994 and was reaffirmed when voters, by a 3-2 margin, rejected an attempt to repeal it last November.

The law has taken effect but there are no known cases of anyone using it to kill themselves.

The senators wrote that federal law supersedes the decision of Oregon voters.

“The duty of the federal government to prevent the misuse of prescription drugs becomes even more compelling when a state allows such controlled substances to be provided with the intention of ending a person’s life, or helping another to do so,” the letter said.

In November, DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine said that Oregon doctors would lose their licenses if they prescribed lethal medication for terminally ill patients who want to die. Reno later said the DEA administrator had acted without her knowledge and that the U.S. Justice Department was conducting its own review.

Along with Ashcroft, senators who signed the letter included assistant Senate majority leader, Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma; Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind.; Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ken., Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., and Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C.

A spokesman for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the letter could increase pressure on Reno to make good on Constantine’s threat to penalize doctors.

Wyden personally opposes assisted suicide, but has been pressuring the Justice Department to back away from Constantine’s interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., is opposed to legalizing assisted suicide but has stayed out of the debate on federal intervention.