FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASKS APPEALS COURT TO STRIKE DOWN ASSISTED-SUICIDE LAW
IN OREGON

SAN FRANCISCO - The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court
Monday to strike down Oregon's assisted-suicide law as counter to U.S. drug
law.

Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and perhaps hold
Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of
medication under the Oregon measure, the only such law in the nation.

The Oregon law, approved by voters in 1994 and 1997, allows the terminally
ill to obtain a lethal dose of drugs if they have been diagnosed as having
less than six months to live and are mentally competent to make the
request. Patients must take the fatal dose by themselves.

The dispute between the federal government and Oregon is a classic states'
rights battle.

In papers filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice
Department argued that the Controlled Substance Act - the federal law
declaring what drugs doctors may prescribe - prohibits doctors from
prescribing controlled substances except for "legitimate medical purposes."

And "the attorney general has permissibly concluded that suicide is not a
legitimate medical purpose," the Justice Department said.

But Oregon has said that Congress intended only to prevent illegal drug
trafficking by doctors under the Controlled Substances Act. The state has
argued that regulating and licensing doctors generally has been the sole
responsibility of the states.

Kevin Neely, a spokesman for Oregon's attorney general, said Oregon would
vigorously defend the will of state voters. "The federal government doesn't
have authority to say what is a legitimate medical purpose," Neely said.

In April, a lower-court judge, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones in
Portland, Ore., rejected the federal government's position and blocked the
Justice Department from punishing doctors in Oregon by stripping them of
their ability to dispense medication. Jones accused Ashcroft of attempting
to overturn the measure for "ideological" reasons.

Jones ruled that the core objective of the Controlled Substances Act was to
allow prosecution of drug dealers and drug abusers.

It "does not prohibit practitioners from prescribing and dispensing
controlled substances in compliance with a carefully worded state
legislative act," Jones said.

Since 1997, when the law took effect, at least 91 people have used the law
to end their lives. Most suffered from cancer.

"The Oregon law has proved itself over its five years of use to be careful
and moderate and helpful for patients who make a request" for lethal drug
doses, said Barbara Coombs Lee, sponsor of the measure.