Don Nickles: “in a memorandum issued yesterday to Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson, Attorney General Ashcroft…”

“in a memorandum issued yesterday to Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson, Attorney General Ashcroft overturned a 1998 decision by Attorney General Janet Reno that allowed for the use of controlled substances for physician assisted suicide. Until June 5, 1998, everyone understood that assisted suicide was not a ``legitimate medical purpose.'' On that date, Attorney General Janet Reno issued a letter carving out an exception for Oregon to use Federally-controlled substances for assisted suicide, a decision that overturned an earlier determination by the Drug Enforcement Administration and which was in direct conflict with 29 years of practice under the Controlled Substances Act. Attorney General Ashcroft wrote that assisting in a suicide is not a ``legitimate medical purpose'' under federal law and determined that prescribing, dispensing, or administering federally controlled substances to assist suicide violates the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of whether State law authorizes or permits such conduct by practitioners. This important decision restores the uniform national standard that federally-controlled substances can not be used for the purpose of assisted suicide by applying the law to all 50 states. Federal law is clearly intended to prevent use of these drugs for lethal overdoses, and contains no exception for deliberate overdoses approved by a physician.”