Assisted Suicide and the Controlled Substances Act: Legal Issues Associated with the Proposed Pain Relief Promotion Act

Publication Date: January 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Law and ethics

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Abstract:

The Pain Relief Promotion Act, as proposed in the 106th Congress, provided that the Attorney General, in determining whether the registration of a doctor for the administration of controlled substances is in the public interest, should give no force and effect to state law authorizing or permitting assisted suicide or euthanasia. This language would appear to have been designed to abrogate the legal reasoning set forth by the Attorney General in a press release regarding the application of the Controlled Substances Act to acts of physician-assisted suicide. It would not, however, appear to have required the Attorney General to revoke such registrations; nor would it have criminalized assisted suicide or euthanasia. This report will be updated as congressional action warrants.