In June 1998, Attorney General Janet Reno unilaterally decided that state law overrides federal law regarding the use of federally controlled substances to purposefully bring about a person’s death. This allowed Oregon to circumvent federal law and allow physician-assisted suicide. The Department of Justice still considered the use of controlled substances for assisted suicide in every other state to be a misuse of the drugs, meriting sanctions against the physician. It even remained a misuse in Oregon if the physician does not comply with state requirements, such as when he assists in causing the death of a patient who is not terminally ill.

Since the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was first enacted in 1970, the federal government has charged the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) with ensuring that potentially dangerous drugs are ONLY used for “legitimate medical purposes” and are not diverted for illegitimate uses. At no time has intentionally causing the death of a patient been considered a legitimate medical purpose.

The Administrative action today did not override or repeal Oregon’s law permitting assisted suicide, nor would it give any additional authority to the DEA under the Controlled Substances Act, or alter any of the sanctions that currently exist. However, it would establish that state law in this area does not override federal law, and it would ensure that the Federal government’s position that assisted suicide and euthanasia are not legitimate means of caring for patients who have a terminal or chronic illness is applied uniformly in all 50 states.

H.R. 2260 (Hyde) was introduced last session to accomplish the same thing. This legislation had 165 cosponsors.

Oregon Law

The Oregon Act was approved by Oregon voters on November 8, 1994, and went in to effect on October 27, 1997. The Act provides for a detailed procedure by which a mentally competent, terminally ill patient may request to end his or her life "in a humane and dignified manner." O.R.S. § 127.805. The procedure requires, for example, that the patient's competence and the voluntariness of the request be documented in writing and confirmed by two witnesses, see id. § 127.810(1), that the patient's illness and competence and the voluntariness of the request by confirmed by a second physician, see id. § 127.820, and that the physician and patient observe certain waiting periods, see id. §§ 127.840, 127.850. Once a request has been properly documented and the requisite waiting periods have expired, the patient's attending physician may prescribe, but not administer, medication to enable the patient to take his or her own life. As a matter of state law, physicians acting in accordance with the Oregon Act are immune from liability as well as any adverse disciplinary action for having rendered such assistance.