The AG’s Other War
Ashcroft sets his sights on assisted suicide.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO Executive Editor
November 7, 2001 10:10 a.m.

n November 5, Attorney General John Ashcroft reversed a ruling by his predecessor Janet Reno that led to the legalization of assisted suicide in Oregon. Since the state's "Death With Dignity" act took effect in 1998, at least 70 terminally ill patients have killed themselves with the help of a doctor's pen. Oregon is the only state with such a law on the books.

The Reno-era ruling allowed doctors to prescribe federally controlled substances to patients who wanted to die. Ashcroft countered that assisted suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose for prescribing, dispensing, or administering federally controlled substances." In a letter to Drug Enforcement Administration head Asa Hutchinson, the attorney general demanded the suspension or revocation of the drug licenses of doctors who assist suicides in such a manner. He based the reversal on a Supreme Court ruling from earlier in the year that barred the sale of marijuana for medical use.

Ashcroft's move effectively invalidates Oregon's assisted-suicide law. The state's attorney general plans to contest the ruling in a federal court Wednesday.

In the spirit of compassionate conservatism, the attorney general encouraged doctors to prescribe controlled substances for pain management when necessary. Indeed, in the states that have passed laws prohibiting assisted suicides, a renewed emphasis on pain management has been a lifesaver for seriously ill patients.

Yet, at a time when America wages a just war on terrorism and those with no concern for human life, a culture of death still thrives within our borders. It's a broad and dangerous culture that frees medical professionals to swiftly remove the most vulnerable among us — the unborn, the elderly, and the terminally sick. That Ashcroft is moving to wage war against this homeland affront is an excellent, if not prescient, development.