Physician-assisted suicide in Oregon--an uncertain future.

Abstract

The battle over physician-assisted suicide in Oregon never seems to end. On November 6, 2001, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft ruled that the Oregon law legalizing physician-assisted suicide violated the federal Controlled Substances Act, a 1970 law designed to prevent drug abuse and illegal-drug trafficking.1 Reversing the ruling of his predecessor, Janet Reno, Ashcroft authorized the Drug Enforcement Administration to take action against Oregon physicians who prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients. On November 20, in response to a legal challenge based on the argument that the federal drug law cannot be used in this manner, U.S. . . .