Don Nickles: “I introduced legislation to correct a mistake that Attorney General Reno made in June of this year when she overruled…”

“I introduced legislation to correct a mistake that Attorney General Reno made in June of this year when she overruled the Drug Enforcement Act and its interpretation that controlled substances could not be used for assisted suicide. Let me make sure that everybody understands the picture of this. The Controlled Substance Act is a Federal law. It is not a State law; it is a Federal law. It is a Federal law that controls very strong drugs-- drugs that are illegal, drugs that can kill, drugs that are very addictive. They are controlled by Federal law. They can't be used except for legitimate medical purposes. That is what is defined in the Federal law in the Controlled Substance Act. They can only be used for legitimate medical purposes. What constitutes a legitimate medical purpose? History has it that a legitimate medical purpose is, or can be, the alleviation of pain, to reduce pain, give comfort. It can be used for palliative care, but it is never--let me restate this--the Drug Enforcement Agency, which is in charge of enforcing this act, has never been used for assisted suicide. These drugs are strong drugs. If they are abused, used in heavy quantities, they kill people.”