Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: Week in Review
Author: Sam Howe Verhovek

ASSAULT ON ASSISTED SUICIDE

One week after moving to crack down on a California law allowing the 
distribution of marijuana for medical purposes, Attorney General John 
Ashcroft took on the Oregon law that allows physicians to prescribe lethal 
medication for terminally ill patients. Mr. Ashcroft directed federal drug 
agents to revoke the licenses of any doctor who does so, even though 
Oregonians upheld the law by 60 percent to 40 percent when a challenge to 
it arose on their ballot four years ago. A federal judge in Portland 
temporarily blocked Mr. Ashcroft, but many Oregonians remained enraged that 
a state's rights administration had sought to thwart the voters' will. Sam 
Howe Verhovek
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom