Drug Agents Can’t End Assisted Suicide Justice Department Review Of Oregon Law Says Feds Have No Authority Over Doctors

U.S. Justice Department lawyers reviewing Oregon’s assisted suicide law have concluded federal drug enforcement agents don’t have the authority to punish doctors who prescribe the lethal doses of drugs, a Senate aide said Friday.

No final decision has been made. However, the Justice Department’s special review team believes the Drug Enforcement Administration has no power to sanction doctors who comply with Oregon’s ballot initiative, said Josh Kardon, chief of staff to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Oregon’s law allows terminally ill patients to kill themselves with lethal doses of drugs prescribed by a doctor. Opponents say it is not a legitimate medical practice as defined by the Controlled Substances Act and therefore could be subject to DEA sanctions.

Attorney General Janet Reno apparently is awaiting comment from the DEA and the White House “before she renders a final decision,” Kardon told The Associated Press Friday.

Kardon refused to identify the administration officials who described the review team’s findings but said Wyden was convinced it was an accurate reflection of the status of the case.

Justice Department spokesman Gregory King refused on Friday to comment on the findings.

“The review has not been finalized,” King said.

Wyden personally opposes assisted suicide but has been pressing the administration to stay out of the matter and allow the will of Oregon voters to prevail.

The review team led by Justice Department attorney Jonathan Schwartz apparently briefed Reno on the team’s findings on Wednesday, Kardon said.

“They presented a written analysis that concluded the DEA lacked the authority to overrule the voters of Oregon,” Kardon said.

“There is no guarantee the attorney general will follow the recommendation of the department’s lawyers, though we hope and anticipate they will,” he said. “It is good news, but it is not the final story.”

Wyden had no comment on the team’s review, but said in a statement that “as the decision reaches its final stages,” he is continuing to press the Justice Department and White House officials for “the right of Oregon to chart its own course.”

“At a time when Americans justifiably worry that the federal government has grown too large and intrusive, it would send an important signal to the entire country for the administration to recognize that it simply has no business substituting its judgment for that of Oregon’s voters,” Wyden said.

Voters on Nov. 4 soundly defeated a measure that would have repealed the physician-assisted suicide law first approved in 1994.

The next day, however, DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine warned that doctors could lose their licenses to prescribe federally controlled drugs if they dispensed such medications to help assist suicides.

Since then, Reno has said the DEA chief’s comment was premature and that her agency was conducting an internal review of the matter.

Several states are watching to see how Reno will handle Oregon’s law. Maine’s state legislature took up a bill this month that would legalize assisted suicides under certain conditions.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 states introduced legislation concerning assisted suicide last year. South Dakota and Virginia enacted laws that prevent authorities from holding physicians liable for prescribing or administering medication to relieve pain even if the dosage hastens death.

Only Oregon allows terminally ill patients to request a prescription for medication to commit suicide. Before a prescription may be written, two doctors must determine the patient is mentally competent, not depressed and has less than six months to live. Then the patient must wait 15 days between requesting the drugs and picking them up from a pharmacist.