DRUGS ARE TO HELP, NOT HARM

The Drug Enforcement Administration, in carrying out our mandated
responsibilities under the Controlled Substances Act, ensures that
narcotics and other controlled substances are used only for the health,
safety and general welfare of the American people. The American public must
be confident that these drugs are used for legitimate medical purposes and
will cause no undue harm to patients.

And that is why the DEA has determined that narcotics or other dangerous
drugs controlled by federal law may not be legally dispensed to assist suicide.

At the same time, the DEA is sensitive to pain-sufferers and all of those
who are striving to diminish the pain and suffering of the dying. We are
advocates for compassionate end-of-life care and fully support physicians'
use of appropriate medications to alleviate pain, within the context of the
doctor-patient relationship.

Physicians are encouraged to prescribe suitable medications for pain
relief, even if dosages to properly control pain entail the risks of
hastening death.

The DEA's regulations have long required that federally controlled drugs be
prescribed only for "a legitimate medical purpose." There is a clear
consensus in the medical profession that assisting suicide is not a
legitimate medical purpose. The laws of an overwhelming majority of states
prohibit the practice because it endangers health and safety and is
inconsistent with the public interest.

Further, the Supreme Court recently upheld the use of federal laws to
govern controlled substances, regardless of what state laws might provide.

This judgment prohibits states from allowing practices contrary to federal
law. In Oregon, for example, where assisted suicide is allowed by state
statute, it is illegal under federal law for physicians to prescribe
narcotics for the purpose of assisting suicide. However, both federal and
state laws allow physicians to prescribe medications for pain relief.

Federally controlled drugs should not be used to kill patients or to enable
them to kill themselves.

Instead, it is vitally important that doctors be encouraged to use them for
pain control, which is one of the most important positive alternatives to
suicide.

Asa Hutchinson is administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose.