Action Alert: Oregon and Ashcroft and the AMA

I received this update from Oregon Death With Dignity.

Help send a message to Ashcroft. Call today!

Your urgent action is needed! The American Medical Association,
whose membership is made up of one-third of all doctors in the
country, is voting this week on a resolution concerning Attorney
General John Ashcroft's intervention into Oregon's Death with
Dignity Law.

The FACTS:

1. Oregon's Death with Dignity law has worked flawlessly for five
years, bringing peace of mind to thousands of terminally ill people
and their families.

2. Attorney General John Ashcroft believes the federal government
should overturn Oregon's law. To impose his moral agenda on Oregon,
he is using the Controlled Substances Act which is meant to prevent
the "trafficking" of illegal drugs like heroin; and the "diversion"
of drugs like oxycontin onto the black market. Doctors who prescribe
under Oregon's law are doing neither, they operate within the law as
determined by that state in two elections and upheld by previous
federal court decisions (Lee v. Oregon) and as was encouraged by the
US Supreme Court in 1997 (New York v. Quill, Washington v.
Glucksberg).

3. Ashcroft's intervention threatens to set back advances in
improved pain and palliative care and to give the federal government
power to determine what is and is not legitimate medical purpose.

Call the AMA at 312 464 5200.

Tell them you:

1. Support Oregon's doctors who are doing nothing wrong and in fact
are helping to alleviate suffering!
2. Believe ALL doctors should oppose Ashcroft's intervention into
legitmate medical practice!
3. Want end-of-life decisions to be made by patients in consultation
with their doctors.
4. That you support Oregon's Death with Dignity Law and encourage
them to do the same!