ASHCROFT'S MEDDLING

Last week a federal judge in Oregon handed Attorney General John Ashcroft a
much-needed rebuke for trying to subject his personal morality on the
people of Oregon.

In referenda in 1994 and 1997, Oregon voters approved an assisted suicide
law. The first of its kind in the nation, the law says that a terminally
ill person has the right to end his life if two doctors agree that the
patient is mentally competent and if the family does not object. The law
gives a physician the ability to provide lethal drugs to the patient, who
must self-administer them. Since becoming effective in 1997, about 70
people have used it to end their lives. Many others have had lethal drugs
prescribed to them, yet have died of their disease.

Ashcroft opposes assisted suicide. Late last year when Ashcroft was dealing
with such legitimate business as fighting terrorism, he made the time to
stick his nose in Oregon's business: He authorized federal drug agents to
yank the licenses of Oregon doctors to provide the lethal drugs to patients.

Oregon quickly sued. And this week a federal judge in Oregon sided with the
state, ruling that Ashcroft lacked the authority to decide "what
constitutes the legitimate practice of medicine."

Assisted suicide is a concept that makes many people in this country very
uncomfortable. Some individuals say they couldn't shorten their lives, not
even for a day, no matter how close they were to death. Some people believe
suicide is a sin under any circumstances.

And some physicians, particularly those who treat terminal illnesses,
maintain that patients are driven to thoughts of suicide by depression and
fear of pain. They argue that with better palliative care and counseling,
end-of-life patients wouldn't turn to suicide.

Yet at its essence, the issue involves the practice of medicine in Oregon
as it affects an extremely personal decision. Ashcroft may oppose the
state's law, but he shouldn't have the right to repeal it through an edict.