U.S. WON'T CHALLENGE ASSISTED SUICIDE

No punishment for Oregon doctors

Washington - Attorney General Jane Reno decided Friday that the Justice
department will not use federal drug-control laws to punish physicians who
help their dying patients commit suicide under a fledgling Oregon law.

The decision means that Oregon doctors no longer risk having the government
revoke their entire ability to write prescriptions if they prescribe lethal
doses to terminally ill people under the state's assisted-suicide law, the
only one of its kind in the nation.

Reno's action effectively over-rules the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), which had concluded last year that Oregon physicians
who helped their patients die were flouting the nations' Controlled
Substances Act.

Since the state's law took effect last October, only three patients are
known to have died with their doctors' help, and some advoctes on both sides
of the issue have suggested the specter of punishment by the DEA was
dampening doctors' willingness to cooperate. With that threat now removed,
the true demand for assisted-suicide may become evident for the first time.

The Justice decision is the latest twist in the gnarled public debate about
a subject fraught with legal, moral, religious and political controversy.
The movement to legalize assisted suicide in Oregon has endured two voter
referendums, most recently last November, and two Supreme Court decisions on
the matter.

The question of invoking federal drug-control laws illustrates how intricate
the politics of assisted suicide have become. The DEA explored the issue at
the behest of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill.,
the chairman of the Senate and House judiciary committees who usually favor
a limited role for the federal government. For her part, Reno determined
that Oregon doctors could not be penalized under the drug laws, even though
President Clinton has been long opposed to assisted-suicide.

Friday, members of Congress indicated that the issue would persist. Hyde and
Sen Majority Whip Don Nickels, R-Okla., said they would work to change
federal laws so that Oregon doctors could be penalized.

Last November, the day after Oregon's most recent assisted suicide
referendum, DEA Administrator Thomas A. Constantine said he had concluded
that helping patients die conflicted with a part of the
controlled-substances law that requires doctors to prescribe drugs only for
"legitimate medical practices." Reno said Friday that U.S. drug laws were
not intended to replace an individual state's own decision as to how to
define such legitimate practices.

Richard Doerflinger, Associate director for policy development for the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Pro-Life Activities, said her
decision was an "enormous contradiction," with the Clinton aministration's
recent move to use the same drug laws to block the legalized use of
marijuana for medical purposes in California.

"My fear is this ruling will have the effect of encouraging many more
doctors to assist suicides in Oregon," Dooerflinger said.

But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who personally opposes assisted suicide,
nevertheless praised Reno's decision. "It's a victory for democracy," he
said. "It's not right to let the DEA disenfranchise the people of Oregon."
But given the prospect of a new fight in Congress, Wyden said, "This isn't
end of the debate."

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"