Source: Arizona Daily Star
Pubdate: Sun, 14 Jun 1998
Contact:  http://www.azstarnet.com/
Author: David Smith

DRUG HYPOCRISY

Re: the June 9 editorial titled ``Right call on assisted suicide.''

On the one hand, Attorney General Janet Reno stands for the doctors
against the Drug Enforcement Administration in Oregon. She said
doctors shouldn't be in jeopardy of being punished if they prescribe
lethal drugs to terminal patients to relieve their suffering. She said
the federal government should respect the wishes of 60 percent of the
Oregon voters who passed an assisted-suicide initiative.

On the other hand, Reno said if a doctor in Arizona or California
recommends that a terminal patient use cannabis (a non-lethal
substance) to relieve his or her suffering, the doctor's license
should be revoked and criminal charges possibly should be filed
against him or her.

The voters (56 percent in California, 2-1 in Arizona) who approved
medical marijuana initiatives were dismissed as dupes or victims of
slick advertising and sleight-of-hand text in the propositions.

So it's OK to give you poison in Oregon if you want to die, but it's
not OK to use a plant in Arizona or California to make you feel better
while you're alive. Your vote counts, unless the government disagrees.
Is that clear?
 

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Checked-by: (trikydik)