Federal District Judge Robert Jones used common sense and ruled against the federal movement to make Oregon’s Death with Dignity law illegal. With this ruling, we hope U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft will back off the will of Oregon voters for good and stop imposing his brand of morality on our state.
Ashcroft has been out to revoke Oregon’s law since he came into office and challenged it in November 2001, citing he would prosecute physicians prescribing lethal doses of drugs because they were violating the Controlled Substances Act. But Oregonians have accepted assisted suicide as a human right. We’ve passed the law twice already — once in 1994, and again in 1997 — this should be more than enough evidence for Ashcroft that Oregon wants to keep assisted suicide legal.
Former Attorney General Janet Reno defended Oregon’s law in 1998, stating that the Controlled Substances Act did not apply to the legislation. We hope Ashcroft will come to his senses and realize prescribing lethal doses of medication for terminally ill patients is a legitimate medical purpose, as Reno did four years ago.
Despite how Ashcroft may feel about the ethics of assisted suicide, history shows that Oregonians are using the option. About 70 terminally ill patients have ended their lives under the law since its inception and prescription abuse by shady doctors has not been an issue.
Ashcroft should stay true to his Republican ideals and stop stepping on states’ rights. The federal government does not need to stick its nose into sovereignty of individual states because it has a moral qualm with its legislation. We hope Judge Jones’ ruling will deter Ashcroft from meddling with the will of Oregon voters in the future.
Let us rest in peace.