cannabisnews.com: Life and Liberty Life and Liberty Posted by FoM on November 14, 2001 at 07:28:41 PT By Debra Saunders Source: Washington Times It doesn't speak well for this country that Attorney General John Ashcroft is in the doghouse for issuing a ruling last week instructing federal drug agents to target doctors who prescribe lethal drugs under Oregon's assisted-suicide law. Critics say Mr. Ashcroft is wrong to base his Oregon ruling on a unanimous May U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found that federal drug laws make no exception for state law that allows medical use of marijuana. They say it's inconsistent for a Republican not to cede to local control. They say by warning Oregon doctors that they could lose their licenses to prescribe federally controlled drugs if they provide prescriptions for lethal drugs under state law, he has taken away Oregon's right to govern the practice of medicine. Personally, I would like to see Uncle Fed cede to the locals on medical marijuana. But on the law, Mr. Ashcroft is right. The Supreme Court says the federal Controlled Substances Act trumps state law, and that's what matters. Besides, if anyone was inconsistent, it's former Attorney General Janet Reno. She determined that federal law trumped local law on medical marijuana — thus the feds could stop sick people from getting high — but that Oregon could prescribe lethal doses to help sick people kill themselves. Assisted suicide didn't lead to "drug abuse," you see. She would let sick people kill themselves because they might be in pain, but she wouldn't let them self-medicate with marijuana. Her motto, apparently: Better dead than high. Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, has shown himself to be a man with Renolike compassion. He responded to the Ashcroft ruling by warning the public it could have a chilling effect on doctors who might fear prescribing pain control medication lest Mr. Ashcroft's agents arrest them. That's a nasty bit of misinformation to spread — one that needlessly may scare vulnerable people into believing they can't get pain control that Mr Ashcroft believes they should get. In fact, Mr. Ashcroft wrote to the Oregon Medical Association that his ruling should not "deter physicians from prescribing controlled substances to alleviate pain" even, he added, "when dosages needed to control pain may increase the risk of death." While Mr. Wyden has been scaring sick people, Sen. Gordon Smith, Oregon Republican, has been willing to risk the wrath of voters for his beliefs. Mr. Smith knows voters don't like Mr. Ashcroft overruling their law, but he told the New York Times, "For me, it's an issue of principle on which I'm prepared to stake my political career." He is risking his seat. Many voters seem to think that Mr. Ashcroft's move takes away a right to suicide. You see, they don't believe people should have to commit suicide without a doctor's help. Forget that some 86 Americans kill themselves every day without a doctor. They are so enamored with the possibility of exiting holding Marcus Welby's hand, they fail to notice that they would turn Marcus Welby into that ghoul, Jack Kevorkian. They think their doctor will try to talk them out of it. But in an era where cost-cutting is king, Oregon doctor William Petty worries that some sick people are coerced — gently or not-so-gently — to choose death: "You can envision that people will get inadequate pain medication, and be told that their pain is not controllable and will get worse." The answer: death, the final pain control. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat and physician, too well expressed why he disagreed with Mr. Ashcroft. "The timing of this ruling is really pretty astounding," he charged. "This attorney general is supposed to be figuring out who's responsible for the anthrax. We've got an overloaded medical community. An overloaded public health system. Docs who are trying to respond to this. And to introduce this divisive issue at this point in time is just, to me, unthinkable." There are no known cases of anthrax in Oregon, but spokesman Jon Coney said state health professionals have been "redoubling their efforts against possible outbreak." Mr. Coney denied that when Mr. Kitzhaber spoke of an "overloaded medical community," that the governor was suggesting that overworked doctors should not have to expend resources on terminal patients. Mr. Coney said that because doctors are "overloaded," they shouldn't have to deal with a "divisive" issue. It is astonishing how advocates of assisted suicide can see the importance of so many side issues — timing, divisiveness, local control — while missing the biggest issue of all: that doctors are supposed to heal and relieve pain, not kill patients in the name, as some claim, of "compassion." As Gene Tarne of the Virginia-based Americans for Integrity of Palliative Care, sees it, so-called "compassion in dying" means: "Let's put them out of not their misery, but out of society's misery. Why should we spend money and resources to care for these people?" Re-read Mr. Kitzhaber as he talks about the system being "overloaded" in the same breath that he champions assisted suicide. You have to wonder whose burden he and his co-believers want to ease: their patients' or their own.Source: Washington Times (DC)Author: Debra SaundersPublished: November 14, 2001Copyright: 2001 News World Communications, Inc.Contact: letters washingtontimes.comWebsite: http://www.washtimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmAshcroft Order Based on Supreme Court Ruling http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11335.shtmlAshcroft's Moral Stand Out of Line http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11332.shtmlAshcroft Ruling Blocks Ore. Assisted-Suicide Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11286.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on November 15, 2001 at 15:09:25 PT The Smugness of Conservatives The thing I detest about the right-wing in this country is that it seems they have all taken lessons from Rush "I only need to hear myself rant anyway" Limbaugh.They parrot his smug holier-than-thou style in their writing. The lady who crafted this essentially hateful blurb is clearly from this camp: The distaste for Janet Reno, and the bashing of a couple other democrats while painting the Republican Senator from Oregon as the Shining siant of an underdog.**Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, has shown himself to be a man with Renolike compassion. He responded to the Ashcroft ruling by warning the public it could have a chilling effect on doctors who might fear prescribing pain control medication lest Mr. Ashcroft's agents arrest them.**and**While Mr. Wyden has been scaring sick people, Sen. Gordon Smith, Oregon Republican, has been willing to risk the wrath of voters for his beliefs. Mr. Smith knows voters don't like Mr. Ashcroft overruling their law, but he told the New York Times, "For me, it's an issue of principle on which I'm prepared to stake my political career."**This is a brilliant move: resist the will of the people because you know better than they do...and because ya can. He betrays the Republican's - and probably most professional politicans - contempt of the people who elect them. With republicans in control of the White House, and them riding high on patriotism for an attack they allowed through inaction and excessive focus on non-dangerous people (potheads). Its a smugfest. They are clearly acting as if they can now get away with anything they want.Like using the power of the US GOvernment to suspend the constitution, and to interpret and enforce laws in a manner consistent with their PERSONAL beliefs. Ashcroft LIED in his hearings when people grillied him about his super-right-wing conservative religious and racsit values. He told them he'd enforce the laws properly.And Bill Clinton never inhaled.The issue is we are being taken over in a paerwork coup and these smug fascists are thinking they are gonna have a country that resembles the Handmaids Tale. I bet they actually, secretly admire the Taliban: women under control, no rock music, no sex (unlesss yer rapin some woman - thats OK) no kites, no medical marijuana, no Death with Dignity. NO Personal Autonomy. No Free Choices.FREEDOM ENDURES [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by John Markes on November 14, 2001 at 22:10:40 PT Forgot Something No one mentioned that many cases of suicide for reasons the Oregon allows for can be avoided if adequate care, especially for pain, are provided. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on November 14, 2001 at 08:22:59 PT: that motto is not just Reno's "Better dead than high" must be Ashcroft's motto too, since he'd rather have tobacco legal and smokeable than pot. Cigarettes and alcohol are legal - why not pot? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by greenfox on November 14, 2001 at 07:51:26 PT This quote shows exactly who we're fighting & why Her motto, apparently: Better dead than high.sig,fik, -gf [ Post Comment ] Post Comment