Today the Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that prevents Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from enforcing the Federal Controlled Substances Act against Oregon doctors who prescribe drugs for patients to commit suicide.   The result of this ruling means that federally controlled drugs can continue to be used for assisted suicides in Oregon, the only state with a law allowing this practice.

 

The good news is what this ruling does not do.  The ruling does not prevent Congress from passing another bill that clarifies the scope of authority granted by the Controlled Substances Act.  Such a revision would make clear that federally-regulated drugs may not be used to facilitate state-sanctioned assisted suicide.  This change would provide the Attorney General with the authority that the Supreme Court says he lacks under the existing law.

 

In fact, forcing Congress to take further action should not have been necessary.  In his dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas noted the inconsistency of the majority's ruling in this case.  He points to the Supreme Court's decision only seven months ago in Gonzales v. Raich where the Court determined that the Controlled Substances Act invalidated California's law to allow possession of marijuana for medical use. 

 

Why would Oregon's law authorizing unconventional use of federally controlled drugs not be invalidated in the same way?   As Justice Scalia noted in his dissent, "If the term 'legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death." 

 

A study published by Dutch researchers in the September 20, 2005 edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) has shown that at least 50% of patients killed under the Dutch euthanasia program were suffering from depression.  That study confirms earlier analysis that found patients seeking assisted suicide in Oregon were often depressed.  None of them were suffering uncontrollable pain, the original justification for the Oregon law.

 

It is very unfortunate that the Supreme Court's decision will allow this mistreatment of depressed patients to continue in Oregon.   However, the Court's decision is limited in its scope and does not endorse assisted suicide.