Pro-Euthanasia Groups Win Temporary Stay On Decision Banning Use of Federally Controlled Drugs for Assisted Suicide.

Reacting to a suit filed by the pro-euthanasia group Compassion in Dying, the state of Oregon, and others, Federal District Judge Robert Jones has temporarily ordered Attorney General John Ashcroft not to enforce the Bush Administration's November 6 order that federally controlled drugs may not be used to assist in suicides.

The effect of the November 20 decision is that lethal prescriptions of federally controlled drugs will continue in Oregon, at least for now. The court's restraining order applies pending the judge's final ruling on the merits. Judge Jones has allotted about five months for all sides to prepare briefs and for a hearing to be conducted.

The district court's ultimate decision is sure to be appealed by the losing party to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and thereafter to the United States Supreme Court.

While Compassion in Dying used the courts to force continued use of federally controlled drugs in assisted suicide, another national pro-euthanasia group, the Hemlock Society, launched a national publicity campaign to force Ashcroft to reverse his decision.

The Hemlock Society offensive began November 20 with letters to President George W. Bush; Senator Bill Frist, who is also a physician; and the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The letters call for congressional hearings on Ashcroft's decision, which Hemlock asserts means that "hopelessly ill people will suffer needlessly."

Hemlock ran quarter-page ads in the New York Times on November 23 and 25, but the official public debut of its reversal effort came November 27 at a Washington, D.C. press conference.

Faye Girsh, Hemlock's president, was on hand with other leaders of the group, calling for public support through an online petition on Hemlock's web site.