SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 (UPI) -- An appeals court Wednesday blocked efforts to rein in Oregon's assisted-suicide law that allows doctors to prescribe fatal drug doses to terminal patients.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Attorney General John Ashcroft overstepped his bounds in his move to criminalize the Oregon Death With Dignity Act because he had no mandate from Congress and wrongly applied controlled substances laws to the case.
Ashcroft and the Justice Department tried to curb the Oregon act on the grounds that fatal drug dosages served no legitimate medical purpose and were therefore a violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The court said in a statement that the justices determined that the CSA's scope was limited to the prevention of drug abuse.
The dissenting opinion said Ashcroft's directives were based on interpretations of a Justice Department regulation on the writing of prescriptions rather than the CSA itself.
