SENATORS DEBATE BILL TO BAR USE OF DRUGS TO AID SUICIDE

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Legislation that would bar doctors from using federally
regulated drugs to help patients commit suicide would make doctors
reluctant to prescribe adequate amounts of painkillers to people who need
them, opponents say.

Doctors would be afraid of arousing the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration's suspicions, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told the Senate
Judiciary Committee on Friday.

"This bill would tie the hands of doctors who treat those in severe pain
and the terminally ill in their final months," Wyden said. "When patients,
particularly those with terminal illnesses, are suffering from extreme
pain, doctors often prescribe high doses of medication for them, even if
the patient has no intention to end his life, because the medications are
the only way to provide comfort."

Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., introduced the bill in response to a
voter-approved Oregon law allowing doctors to prescribe drugs to help
terminally ill patients commit suicide. During Friday's public hearing,
Nickles, the Senate majority whip, argued that the Oregon law conflicts
with federal law and puts the DEA in an impossible position.

"If federal drug agents are forced to allow Oregon doctors to use these
drugs for assisted suicide, it puts in place two opposing standards
regarding federally controlled substances: one for Oregon, stating assisted
suicide is a 'legitimate medical purpose,' and a second standard for the
rest of the country, stating assisted suicide is 'not a legitimate medical
purpose,"' Nickles said.

Nickles' bill could negate the Oregon law by prohibiting doctors from
prescribing "controlled substances" -- dangerous narcotics and barbiturates
regulated by the federal government -- for the purpose of assisting suicide.

Doctors who violate the law could lose their license to prescribe such drugs.

But opponents of Nickles' bill asked the committee to reject it. Wyden also
argued that the bill would deprive Oregon voters of their right to set
policy in their own state.

"Does this Congress meeting here in Washington, D.C., believe it is better
equipped than the citizens of my state to make moral decisions about
acceptable medical practice in Oregon?" he asked.

The bill's supporters say they find physician-assisted suicide repugnant,
and want to make sure the federal government does nothing to support or
encourage it. Last year, the Senate voted 99-0 to bar the use of federal
funds to assist in suicide or euthanasia. The House agreed on a 398-16
vote, and President Clinton signed the bill into law.

"To me, physician-assisted suicide is morally and ethically reprehensible,
an abhorrent practice which our society can ill-afford to see as a viable
alternative to compassionate care and treatment," said Judiciary Committee
Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Nickles' bill would apply only to powerful drugs, such as morphine or
codeine, which are considered so dangerous they are regulated by the
federal government to discourage abuse. About 75,000 of the nation's
medical practitioners have DEA registrations allowing them to prescribe
these drugs for legitimate medical purposes.

Attorney General Janet Reno ruled in June that the federal Controlled
Substances Act did not override Oregon law, and federal drug agents would
not enforce the law to keep Oregon doctors from acting under the state law.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski