Pubdate: 14 Nov 1997 Source: The Oregonian Section: Front Page, AM Edition Contact: 15032944193 Author: DAVE HOGAN and JIM BARNETT DEA SUICIDE POLICY SURPRISES RENO The attorney general says she wasn't notified before the agency declared it could sanction doctors who follow Oregon's law of The Oregonian staff WASHINGTON Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration failed to notify her before declaring it would discipline Oregon doctors who prescribe lethal medication. Reno also said she has not talked about the issue with Thomas A. Constantine, DEA administrator. Constantine outlined his agency's position on physicianassisted suicide in a Nov. 5 letter to Sen. Orin Hatch, RUtah, and Rep. Henry Hyde, RIll., chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary committees, which oversee the DEA. The attorney general's comments Thursday were the strongest indication that news of Constantine's letter startled Justice officials. The DEA is part of the Justice Department, which Reno heads. Asked at a news briefing if it was inappropriate for Constantine to send such a letter without her knowledge, Reno did not respond directly. "I think it's important on an issue like that, with legal issues involved, that the whole department have a chance to review it, and we're in the process of doing that," he said. Reno declined to say more about her department's legal review of the assistedsuicide issue. She also would not speculate on when the review might be finished. "I don't know exactly how long it will take, but we want to do it as quickly as possible, consistent with an appropriate review," Reno said. Justice officials told Sen. Ron Wyden, DOre., that the review would be completed soon, according to Wyden's chief of staff, Josh Kardon. "It's likely to take a good week and a half or so," Kardon said. Jonathan D. Schwartz, counsel to the deputy attorney general, Eric Holder Jr., will conduct the review, Kardon said. Schwartz led a similar Justice Department review last year after California voters approved legalizing he medical use of marijuana. Reno and other federal officials later said doctors would face DEA sanctions if they prescribed marijuana. A group of physicians, patients and organizations responded by filing a classaction lawsuit against the federal government this year. On April 30, a federal judge in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction barring the federal government from taking action against doctors. The lawsuit is pending. Bert Brandenburg, a Justice Department spokesman, said it was unusual for a federal agency such as the DEA to state a policy on a legal issue without consulting with the attorney general's office. Kris Olson, U.S. attorney for Oregon, said she discussed assisted suicide with upperlevel Justice officials Monday when she was in Washington D.C., for a conference. It was clear those officials had not known of the DEA letter before it was disclosed in news reports late last week, she said. Constantine's letter said, in response to a query from Hatch and Hyde, that his staff had concluded the DEA could revoke a doctor's license to prescribe certain drugs if the doctor was found to have provided a controlled substance for assisted suicide. Constantine wrote that assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose and that prescribing lethal medication violates federal narcotics law. HYDE SEES COURT BATTEL In an interview Wednesday, Hyde said he expects the issue to be settled in court. In the meantime, he said, he hopes the DEA will enforce the policy spelled out in Constantine's letter. "I would hope they would enforce the law, yes," said Hyde, whose committee oversees the Justice Department. "Our jurisdiction includes oversight, and if I find instances where the law is being ignored, that makes a mockery of the law." Hyde's wife died of cancer after they had been married 45 years, but he said that experience didn't alter his opinion of assisted suicide. "I've always been prolife," Hyde said. "I think human life is the ultimate value, and government ought to protect it if no one else does." Eli D. Stutsman, a lawyer for the proassisted suicide group Oregon Death with Dignity, said Reno's comments didn't surprise him. "I would have been surprised had it been otherwise," Stutsman said. "The DEA letter is based upon circular reasoning. The DEA did a research of prior (assisted suicide) cases. None of those prior cases involved a holding that writing a prescription under the act was a medically legitimate purpose. And of course not, because prior to the passage of the act, such a prescription was illegal in all 50 states." Stutsman said if the DEA had reviewed its regulations in light of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, the agency would have concluded that writing prescriptions in accordance with the state law would not violate DEA rules. He said he was relieved when he saw the letter from Constantine to Hyde and Hatch. "It was so plainly in error," he said. OPPONENTS DON'T SEE CHANGE James Bopp Jr., an Indiana lawyer representing assistedsuicide opponents, said Reno's comments don't change anything. "Their opinion has not changed just because it's being reviewed," he said of DEA officials. Bopp said he has no objection to review of the DEA opinion but said he would be shocked if the DEA changed its position. He said it's clear the DEA's regulations require the agency to punish doctors who prescribe lifeending medication under Oregon's assisted suicide law. but what happens will depend on how the agency withstands "improper" political pressure to keep the law intact, he said. "I think it's wrong for politicians to try to convince law enforcement officers not to properly enforce the law," he said. Oregon voters approved the law in 1994, and rejected a repeal attempt Nov. 4. It had been held up in the courts for almost three years before a federal appeals court lifted an injunction Oct. 27. Jim Kronenberg, spokesman for the Oregon Medical Association, welcomed Reno's comments. OMA MEMBERS DIVIDED ON ISSUE "We are gratified that the attorney general feels that the DEA's decision should be subject to a more careful legal and policy review," Kronenberg said, "Washington is a political town that sometimes forgets that not everything of importance that happens happens there. It is difficult to imagine that the views of two members of Congress about something in a state they don't represent are more important than the majority of voters in that state. The 5,700 member OMA has members who favor and oppose assisted suicide. The OMA's position is that it opposes the law as seriously flawed, but it is neutral on the concept of assisted suicide. Kathleen Haley, executive director of the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, said the debate about the potential conflict between assisted suicide and federal drug laws will not change how the board performs its role under the law. If the board disciplines a physician who has violated a provision of the assistedsuicide law, the case would be forwarded to the DEA for investigation, Haley said. But because of state legislation approved last spring, the board will not tell the DEA of cases it is investigating and won't send the case to the DEA if the physician is not disciplined, she said. We are ratified that the attorney general feels that the DEA's decision should be subject to a more careful legal and policy review. Jim Kronenberg, spokesman, Oregon Medical Association. Patrick O'Neill and Erin Hoover of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report.