Pubdate: Tue, 20 Nov 2001
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Author: William McCall
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)

HEARING SET FOR ASHCROFT ORE. ORDER

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - When Oregon voters endorsed the nation's only 
assisted-suicide law for the second time, the U.S. Justice Department 
said it didn't interfere with federal regulations.

Three years later, a new attorney general disagrees, prompting a 
showdown between Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers and U.S. 
Attorney General John Ashcroft that was set to return to the 
courtroom Tuesday.

Ashcroft has argued Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, which 
permits doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to terminally 
ill patients, interferes with federal law on prescription drugs.

He issued a directive this month stating that Oregon doctors who use 
the assisted-suicide law would lose their licenses to prescribe 
federally controlled drugs.

The day before the directive was published, the state of Oregon sued 
Ashcroft, seeking to block it from taking effect. U.S. District Judge 
Robert Jones granted a temporary restraining order until Tuesday, 
when he has scheduled another hearing.

Oregon voters first approved the assisted-suicide law in 1994 by a 
narrow margin, then reapproved it by an overwhelming margin in 1997 
after the law withstood several legal challenges.

Gov. John Kitzhaber officially signed it in 1999, allowing at least 
70 people - most of them cancer patients - to ask for a prescription 
for a lethal overdose.

The law expressly states the patient must administer the fatal dosage 
himself or herself, and only after an evaluation by two doctors who 
agree beyond all doubt the patient has less than six months to live.

The U.S. Supreme Court since has unanimously ruled there is no 
constitutional right to assisted suicide, but it is up to the states 
to decide for themselves whether to allow it.

Ashcroft said a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in May on medical 
marijuana forced him to reconsider whether the Oregon 
assisted-suicide law conflicts with the federal Controlled Substances 
Act.

He overturned a previous interpretation by former Attorney General 
Janet Reno, who decided in 1998 that the law does not interfere with 
federal regulations.

An Oregon doctor and a pharmacist, and several terminally ill 
patients have joined the Oregon lawsuit against Ashcroft. Their 
lawyers were scheduled to address the court.

Jones has indicated he may rule from the bench, but he also may take 
the issue under consideration and rule later. Attorneys and observers 
say they expect a swift appeal.
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