ASHCROFT MISSES MARK, HURTING THE TERMINALLY ILL

As noted in your excellent Nov. 18 editorial ("Assisted Suicide: The U.S.
attorney general should leave the matter to doctors, patients and states"),
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is attempting to undermine Oregon's
assisted-suicide law. Ashcroft cited a narrow U.S. Supreme Court ruling
against a medical marijuana center in Oakland, Calif., to justify his
actions.

Our attorney general seems to have it in for the terminally ill. Drug
Enforcement Administration agents recently raided a Los Angeles medical
marijuana center known for its stringent requirements and the inability of
federal agents to conduct sting operations by posing as patients. The more
than 900 cancer and AIDS patients who depended on the club to help them
combat nausea and keep food down will now be forced to buy marijuana on the
street.

Both Oregon's assisted-suicide law and California's medical marijuana law
were passed by ballot initiative and are protected by the Constitution's
10th Amendment.

Ashcroft's ideology-driven priorities would seem ludicrous even without the
all too real threat of international terrorism. His use of federal resources
to force terminally ill patients to endure unnecessary suffering is
unconscionable.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer The Lindesmith Center -- Drug Policy
Foundation

Washington, D.C.