Fight Against Suicide / Euthanasia

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced a bill last Friday that would prohibit doctors from prescribing federally-controlled substances for the purpose of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. The Assisted Suicide Prevention Act (S.3788) would amend the Controlled Substances Act to explicitly prohibit the prescription, distribution, or administration of a federally controlled substance for the purposes of assisted suicide or euthanasia. The bill respects the principles of federalism by preserving the general ability of states to set their own rules, but simply makes clear, as the Constitution contemplates, that federal law is the supreme law of the land.